The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has condoled the family of Reuben Fasoranti, the Afenifere leader whose daughter was murdered by bandits widely suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
Funke Olakunrin, 58, was travelling to Lagos on Friday when gunmen ambushed her vehicle and other travellers near Ore, Ondo.
Her car was shot and she sustained gun wound through which she later bled to death.
The police said the attack was carried out by robbers and kidnappers, but Yinka Odumankin, the Afenifere publicity secretary insisted on eyewitness account which said they were Fulani herdsmen.
Others in the opposition, like Femi Fani-Kayode and Reno Omokri, have also based their vituperation on the herdsmen theory.
But Funke’s relatives travelling in the car with her, and the driver, said the gunmen were masked.
In a statement by Baba Uthman, the National Security Officer of MACBAN, the group said it recognised the death as a huge loss to the nation and sympathised with the Fasorantis.
But MACBAN, however, took a swipe at Nigerians jumping into conclusions the killers were herdsmen.
“As we express sincere heartfelt condolence to the family of the deceased, we are left in a deep shock on how a section of the media in collaboration with elements in the country that are held bane [bent] on using every opportunity available to them to fuel crisis as they continue the negative profiling of Fulanis for their total annihilation by jumping into a mischievous conclusion that she was killed by herdsmen,” the group said.
“We strongly condemn this very unprofessional, unpatriotic and callous news reportage patterns that have been conscripted against our people by the section of the media.
“We are calling on security agencies to swing into action, and unravel the perpetrators to bring them to justice in the shortest possible time.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has called the bereaved leader to console him, and the government has directed security agencies to fish out the killers.