The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said that time has come for the Fulani herdsmen to ditch their obsolete nomadic method of rearing.
According to the former Lagos governor, the herdsmen must embrace peace and start applying modern ways of cattle rearing.
Tinubu, represented by a former Lagos state commissioner of finance, Olawale Edun, was speaking at the Daily Trust dialogue in Abuja on Thursday.
”The crux of the matter is that the nomadic way of life is fast becoming obsolete. Large scale nomadic practice does not belong in this day and age. This is reality and it is inescapable.
”Thus, herders have no right to cling to this way of life by killing others. Government must stop their violence but also offer them a viable new way of life by moving them toward more modern, non-nomadic cattle rearing,” Tinubu stated.
The elder-statesman said killings by Fulani herdsmen is not a recent occurrence.
“It is important that we place the current crisis in proper context. No one should pretend that this evil just suddenly appeared from nowhere. We have been living and dying with this lethal situation for many years.
”In years past, there have been herdsmen attacks smaller than this. There also have been attacks larger than this.
”The current hue and cry against these killings is hopefully a sign that we are maturing as a nation. That we shall no longer countenance the wanton destruction of human lives no matter the religion, ethnicity or origin of the victims or the villains. If so, maybe this nation is coming of age and none too soon.
”As such, this outcry is as welcome as it is overdue. We should have been agitating in this manner 5, 10, 15 years ago. Lives would have been saved. For reasons I cannot completely fathom we have come late to the point of strong, collective outrage at this bloodletting. Yet, all in all, late is better than never in this regard.
”This spirit of compassion and care must be enshrined in our political culture because it is integral to national greatness and democratic progress. True patriotism requires that you love more than the concept of Nigeria. You must love the people who comprise this nation, whether they worship in a church, mosque, and shrine or not at all.
”Over the course of history, nations have faced crises more crimson than this. Through wise policy, many nations emerged from the thicket better situated to realize their better destiny.
“These nations and their people are no better than us. We can and we must do the same thing,” Tinubu said.
