The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has said that bandits terrorising the North are not only from the Fulani ethnic group.
Mohammed who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday said the Igbo, the Yoruba and the Hausa are the real beneficiaries of the illicit trade.
“In fact, they are terrorising the Fulanis but they have Fulani miscreants within them; they have Hausa, they have Igbo suppliers; they have Yorubas. They are the people really benefiting from the illicit trade.”
He said he had not changed his mind on his recent comment that herders had no option but to carry AK-47 for self-defence because they were being attacked and killed by cattle rustlers.
He said, “I have not changed my opinion on the issue; I was not defending herdsmen.”
Mohammed said the security agencies appeared to have become tired or mesmerized.
He also said Nigerians don’t need the permission of his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu, to live in the forests in the South-West state.
He said, “Land is in the hands of the state and federal governments in trust but Nigerians don’t need the permission of governors or the federal government to settle everywhere. You don’t need the permission of the governor of Bauchi or the governor of Ondo to be in the forests of Ondo if you choose to live in the forests because under Section 41 of the constitution, you are free to settle anywhere.”
