It’s Fulani tribal bandits that are oppressing northern region – Katsina governor

The Executive governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari has disclosed that majority of bandits operating in the northern part of the country are Fulani by tribe.

Katsina State in the Northwest Nigeria has been one of the hotbed of abductions and hostage taking by those criminal elements which has defied all sorts of government approaches.

Speaking on Channels Television which was monitored by CAPITAL POST on Monday, governor Masari stressed that his profiling of Fulani with regards to banditry activities may not go down well, with some forces, but insisted that majority of criminals operating in forests are Fulani ethnic extraction.

Masari dispelled beliefs in some quarters that bandits are foreigners, saying majority of them are Fulani living in the north who are known to all of them.

“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.

According to the governor, some few foreigners from other West African countries and North Africa are also Fulani who were invited by the local ones to the business of abduction for ransom.

“Majority of those involved in this banditry are Fulani, whether it is palatable or not, but that is the truth. I’m not saying 100 percent 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.

He identified the lack of education and dwindling of fortunes due to climate change as responsible for the high rate of crimes among the Fulani elements.

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.”he said