TRUTH COMING OUT GRADUALLY: Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State where President Muhammadu Buhari comes from have come out boldly to disclose that majority of the bandits in the north are Fulani people
The Katsina State Governor and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Masari, has said that majority of the bandits who attack persons in the Northern region of the country are of Fulani extraction. The governor said it is the hard truth but one that has to be said anyway.
Masari whose state is one of the centres of banditry attacks in Nigeria spoke on Channels Television on Monday, September 6. The governor said although his revelation may not sit well with some persons, the truth is that a majority of the bandits are of the Fulani ethnic extraction who practice the same religion with those they are killing in their thousands.
He said, “They are the same people like me, who speak the same language like me, who profess the same religious beliefs like me. So, what we have here on ground with these bandits, they are not aliens; they are people who we know. They are people who are living with us for hundreds of years. The infiltration we have from some West African countries and North African countries are also people of the Fulani extraction.
“Majority of those involved in this banditry are Fulani, whether it is palatable or not, but that is the truth. I am not saying 100 per cent of them are Fulani, but the majority of them are. These are people who live in the forests where their main occupation is rearing of cattle. Probably, over time, their fortunes dwindled with climate change. Lack of access to education also aggravated the situation.
“The fall of Gaddafi, instability in many West and North African countries, the influx of arms and ammunition, accompanied with illegal drugs and intoxicants that polluted the environment, that made them what they are, and I think it is our responsibility to cure this. We in Katsina, together with other governors in the north-western region, are determined to cure this,” Masari promised.
