Nigeria Refuses To Criminalize, Outlaw Fulani/Farmer Murders, Says Don’t Provoke Them

Spokesman of the Nigerian Presidency and senior special asistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu has again refused to criminalize deadly Fulani cattle rearer-farmer clashes.

The spokesman when asked about Fulani-farmer clashes talked about meetings between parties and grazing reserves and described sending soldiers to contain the violence but failed to declare that any Nigerian who takes the law into his own hands and kills or massacres communities is a criminal and terrorist and shall be dealt with as such.

This has remained the Nigerian government policy with incessant Fulani-farmer violence that has left hundreds of communities dastardly scorched and tens of thousands killed.

Garba Shehu condemned Fulani cattle wandering into farms but also advised citizens to “not provoke” the Fulani by stealing their cattle.

Whether the Nigerian constitution allows the perpetration of massacres in response to being robbed is the immediate question. Nigerians are annoyed that the Buhari administration fails to clearly and unambiguously condemn Fulani or Farmer violence.

Presidency Putting Fulani At Risk

In the process the Nigerian government seemingly complicit with the mainly Fulani herder acts of violence and terror is putting the very Fulani’s at risk as retaliations are beginning to happen against innocent members of the clan in distant locations.

While the Nigerian army typically promotes an idea that it acted in the recent Zaria massacre and Abia to prevent the formation of radical groups like Boko Haram, the Fulani armed militia is already radical but the army and other security departments fails to address them as such.