Yuguda - Don't Vilify Cattle Rearers

Nigerian journalists should stop creating the impression that nomadic Fulani herdsmen are trouble makers in several states because they are actually victims of the loss of cattle routes and grazing reserves caused by increasing population, Bauchi State Governor Malam Isa Yuguda said yesterday.He also strongly condemned rumours spread by the social media yesterday alleging that a bomb went off at the state's NYSC orientation camp and resulted in the death of many people.

Speaking to Daily Trust on telephone from Bauchi, a furious Yuguda said, "I emphatically deny that there was a bomb explosion at the NYSC camp in Bauchi. Nothing of the sort happened. Both police and SSS have confirmed that no such thing happened." He said "those who spread this unfounded rumour are people who do not wish Bauchi well. They are unhappy that Bauchi is the only state in the whole neighborhood where there is no state of emergency in any local government. Allah will punish them severely for trying to ignite crisis in our peaceful state."

The Bauchi governor also denied insinuations that the people who recently attacked villages in Riyom local government of Plateau State came from Bauchi State. He said, "Bauchi State is not adjoining Riyom. How could they cross several local governments before they reached Riyom, with all the joint task force in Plateau State? It is a baseless allegation without any foundation."

Decrying what he called the increasing vilification of cattle rearers in the media in the wake of recent insecurity events, Malam Isa Yuguda said, "This vilification campaign is wicked and unwarranted. Nigerians are being ungrateful to cattle rearers. For many decades before the discovery of oil, this country's public treasury was sustained by jangali, which was paid by the cattle rearers. The colonial and post-colonial governments then rewarded them by demarcating grazing reserves and cattle routes all the way from Borno to Oturkpo. Most of these routes and reserves have now been brought under cultivation by farmers, that is why cattle often stray into farms and eat crops, which causes trouble. Is that the cattle rearers' fault?"

The governor also said a million and a half refugees flocked into Bauchi State from various trouble spots all around. The state government has resettled all of them and there is no one in refugee camps in the state, he said. Instead of congratulating it for its efforts to promote peace, Bauchi State government's efforts are being undermined by rumour mongers through baseless accusations, Yuguda also said.

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