Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, has said that the perpetrators of banditry, killings and kidnappings in the northwestern state, are majorly Fulani herdsmen.
Masari, who is the governor of President Muhammadu Buhari’s home-state disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV.
The Katsina governor said that the Fulani bandits and the Katsina people have a lot in common including language and religion, stating that they have been living “with us for hundreds of years”.
Masari said, “Bandits are persons who speak same language like me. They profess the same religious beliefs like me.
“These bandits are not aliens, they are people we know. They are people that have been living with us for hundreds of years.
“The infiltration we have from some African countries and non-African countries, are people of the Fulani extraction.
“Majority of those involved in this banditry are Fulanis. Whether it is believable or not, that is the truth. These are people who live in the forest and their major occupation is rearing of cattle.”
States like Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau, Benue and Kaduna states have been the epicenter of the incessant terrorist attacks in the country.
Bandits have constantly taken advantage of the geographical terrain of the northern region to perpetrate their dastardly attacks on school-children, farmers and random road-users.
Chronicle NG reported on Monday that Sheikh Ahmad Gumi urged the Federal Government of Nigeria not to respond to banditry with military action, rather the bandits should be granted a blanket amnesty, just like it was done for the Niger Delta militants.
