Leader of pan-Yoruba group Afenifere, Chief Leader of pan-Yoruba group Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has questioned Buhari's commitment to prosecuting Fulani herdsmen accused of committing various atrocities in the Southwest region.
Adebanjo while speaking in an interview with The Punch, said if President Muhammadu Buhari truly sees himself as a Nigerian president, and not a Fulani president, he would have already called his people to order instead of defending them.
The Afenifere leader therefore, called on the president to remember that he is president for all Nigerians.
“I don’t buy the propaganda of the Buhari government that how do you know they are Fulani? And when they are caught, they will say, they are foreign Fulani. If you are a competent defender of the Nigerian people, the Fulani herdsmen won’t be committing all forms of atrocities unabated,” he said.
Buhari has been accused of defending his brothers whom Ondo State government had given a week long ultimatum to leave the State's forest reserves.
Buhari had in a statement through his aide, Garba Shehu, said it is wrong for Ondo State government to "unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals."
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Dr Walid Jibrin, was a bit critical of the Fulani by dismissing Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore's claims of owning every land in the country. He however, also fault decisions by states to issue ultimatums, demanding that other fellow citizens, leave their states.
Kalid while calling for truce and dialogue, in a statement obtained by SaharaReporters, on Tuesday, said, “I am calling on all Nigerians, especially the Ondo and Oyo states' governors, all security outfits in the affected states and the Fulani to adopt the necessary reconciliation tactics and rely on effective dialogue in solving all misunderstandings going on among the states and the Fulani living in the states.
"Yorubas, Igbos, Ijaws and the Fulanis must live peacefully forever. I do not support anyone who says that all lands in Nigeria belong to the Fulani. All lands belong to every state.
“I support governors trying to solve these problems between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in every state. The order given to Fulani residing in Ondo to evacuate from the state immediately should be reversed and allow the elders and governors forum to handle this matter peacefully and amicably.
“As a prominent Fulani leader myself and responsible elder statesman, I am making all efforts to invite all Fulani associations to come together for a truce that will solve this matter without any fight or war.
“We have been living peacefully in Nigeria since after the Biafran War. May I congratulate all our state governors for their efforts in handling the Fulani herdsmen issues, hoping that the problems will soon come to pass.”