The comment made by Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed on why herdsmen carry AK-47 rifles has continued to generate controversy.
Mohammed spoke at the 2021 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bauchi State Council.
Dateline Nigeria reports that the overnor spoke off the cuff at the event, and below is a transcript of the part of the speech that is generated debate, especially on the social media:
“I will tell you something that I told my colleagues about the herders and farmers clashes in Nigeria. You have seen what our colleagues in the South West are doing and some of them from the South East. Some of us told them with all modesty and humility, you are wrong.
“But the person that is most wrong is the Governor of Benue State, my brother and my colleague Governor Ortom. He started all this. If you don’t accommodate other tribes – we are also accommodating your tribes in Bauchi and other places. We have so many tiv people working, farming in Alkaleri, farming in Tafawa Balewa, farming in Bogoro. Has anybody told them to go? We have not, because it is their own inalienable right to be there.
“We have the Yoruba people in Bauchi for over 150 years, even before the birth of Nigeria. Nobody has talken to them. Some of them have risen to become permanent secretaries in Gombe, in Bauchi and in Borno.
“And now because the Fulani man is practising the tradition of transhumans – pastoralism, he has been exposed to the vagaries of the forest, the animals and now the cattle rustlers who carry guns, kill him and take away his commonwealth, that is the cows. He has no option but to carry AK47 because the society and government are not protecting him. What is his fault? It is the fault of the government and the people.
“You don’t criminalise all of them, because in every tribe there are criminals. If cybercime is being practised mostly by one tribe, you don’t criminalise the whole tribe that they are criminals.
“We should be very sensitive. I am happy with what the chairman [of the occasion] has said, we have to be careful and you as journalists you must exercise restraint. You must decipher from wrong and right. Something that is so bad, that can divide us, that can threaten our unity, our hegemony, you don’t do it.
“I must thank our chairman of the Northern Governors Forum at this occasion because we talking about the use of the media to promote peace and unity in Nigeria. I think he is a hero in that field. Governor Lalong, with his diverse background,with his minority background, he is leading the Northern Governors, with focus, with a lot of sense.
“You the media you must make sure you single out such heroes for promotion. Not those people that will speak from Ekiti or from Ondo that Fulanis should leave their forests. Nobody owns any forest, the forest is owned by Nigeria. Under sectuon 23, 24 , 25 of the constitution every Nigerian is free to stay anywhere. And let me tell you, nobody has the freedom of vituperations, of speaking anyhow. Everybody can speak anyhow, but we are exercising restraint.”
