By Oluwatobi Enitan and Fatunbi Olayinka

..says group has no link to terror groups

The National Secretary of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Al-Hassan has reacted to a claim by Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, that terrorists are recruiting herders to carry out attacks.

Al-Hassan reacted to the claim when he spoke exclusively to The ICIR, stating that it was worrisome that banditry was being tied to herdsmen’s activities.

Gumi had said when he spoke with The ICIR that terrorists were using herders as foot soldiers and were paying each herder a sum of N50,000 every day.

But, according to Al-Hassan, “Sheikh Gumi may not be wrong; the only thing we may correct is him saying they are recruiting herders. No, they are recruiting criminal gangs that have carried arms in the forest. That is the correct thing, but it is all the responsibility of the government.

“We hold Sheikh Gumi in high respect because he is courageous, speaks truth to power, and has dared to go into the forest. But I think we have to correct one misconception. If you say herders, the first thing that should come to your mind is that he should have herds of cattle. That is what makes him a herder, he should be moving with his herds of cattle.

“But when you have armed groups in the forest, defining them as herders, I think it is wrong; it is a wrong nomenclature. Worse is even giving them an ethnic colouration, calling them Fulani herders. I think that is a wrong narrative, it is a wrong description.

“If there is failure of the State to give leadership to ensure that there is authority, then you have all manner of groups exercising their own pseudo authority. If you fail to address security issues before they escalate, they will have different forms of manifestations, and that is what we are facing now.”