The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has threatened to hold President Muhammadu Buhari and his government responsible should any northerner fall victim of the consequences of the concerns they raised about the safety of Fulani herdsmen in the southern part of the country.
The group’s spokesman, Abdul-Aziz Suleiman said in a statement made available in Abuja that while they welcome the assurance by the President, they were not lost in the fact that the lives of their kinsmen was under threat in the southern part of the country.
“We, however, wish to remind Mr. President and the government that Northerners would hold them fully responsible should any one of them fall victim of the consequences of the concerns we raised,” he said.
Suleiman said it was amazed at the denial of southern leaders that they did not declare war on the herders as a result of the killing of the daughter of an Afenifere chieftain by unknown assassins.
The group, in conjunction with the Northern Elders Forum had asked Fulani herdsmen to immediately return to the north as their security was no longer guaranteed in the southern part of the country.
According to him, Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, responded by acknowledging the concern, saying “We are worried about their wellbeing. If it is true that their safety can no longer be assured, 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 and not at the expenses of other sections,” Abdullahi said.
He said further that “surprisingly, barely 24 hours after Fulani herders were accused of killing Mrs Olakunrin, leaders of southern groups such as PANDEF, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and a certain Middle Belt forum issued a joint statement tending to deny having made inflammatory remarks capable of instigating violence against the Fulani in the South or that the security of the herders in the South was not in danger as to have warranted concern from the North.”