Popular Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has reacted to President Buhari’s comment on herdsmen killings at the White House during a recent visit to President Donald Trump.
Buhari made headlines when he told Trump that herdsmen only carry sticks and occasionally machetes adding that they did not carry AK-47 rifles.
He said; “The problem of herders in Nigeria is a very long historical thing. The Nigerian herders don’t carry anything more than a stick and occasionally a matchet to cut down foliage and give it to their animals, these ones are carrying AK-47.
So, people should not underrate what happened in Libya. 43 years of Ghaddaffi, people were recruited from Sahel and trained to shoot and kill. With the demise of Ghaddaffi, they moved to other countries and region and carried the experience with them.”
Speaking on the development, Afenifere, through its secretary, Yinka Odumakin, said that the president spoke as a “the patron of Miyetti Allah, not as the President of Nigeria.” He continued;
“Buhari should not have gone to the international stage and say Fulani herdsmen don’t carry AK 47; that destroyed everything for the President.
This is why Afenifere said he should make a choice between the Presidency and being the patron of Miyetti Allah. He spoke in America in defence of Fulani herdsmen as their patron, not as the President of Nigeria and that is conflict of interest,” he said.
