Crack on Nigeria's unity deepens as Northern Elders orders Fulani herdsmen to vacate South

NEF Chairman, Prof Ango Abdullahi 

The crack on Nigeria's unity as one nation deepens as members of the Northern Elders Forum and the Coalition of the Northern Groups have asked Fulani herdsmen to vacate the southern part of the country and return to the North.

They said the herdsmen should return to the North where the safety of their lives and that of their property could be guaranteed.

The northern elders and the youths said they were worried that some southern leaders had allegedly openly threatened war against the Fulani herdsmen.



They claimed that for this reason , all the herdsmen from the North living in the South should return home.

Recall that the proposed controversial Ruga settlement program which was later suspended by the Federal Government generated various reactions with southern leaders rejecting it.

The southern leaders had argued that it was wrong for the Federal Government to take people’s land by force and give it to herdsmen who were operating personal businesses.



However, at a press conference after a meeting of the NEF with the CNGs on Tuesday in Abuja, where the youths demanded the return of all the Fulani herders to the North, the NEF’s chairman, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, also backed the youth’s position. Punch reports

However, Abdullahi said the call on the herders to retrun to the North was borne out of the alleged realisation that their lives had allegedly been put at risk due to the recent actions and utterances of the southern governors.

Abdullahi said, “We are worried about their well - being. If it is true that their safety can no longer be guaranteed, we rather have them back in areas where their safety is guaranteed.


“The bottom line is that their safety is far more important than their stay there. This is a country we all wish to keep together but not at the expense of other sections .”