Fulani community alleges stereotype, demands fair deal

At an interactive session yesterday in Jalingo, its leaders claimed that the group had got negative publicity over the herdsmen’s activities nationwide.

Led by an elder, Dahiru Umar Arabi, the community wondered why media organisations have continued to refer to the herders as Fulani militias or Fulani herdsmen, stating that it was not “only the Fulani that engage in the business of cattle-rearing here in Taraba and Nigeria as a whole.”

He said associating the ongoing attacks between farmers and herders to the Fulani nation was unfair.Arabi advised practitioners to make use of the word “herders” and refrain from the use of ” Fulani herdsmen or Fulani militias”, saying such would help disabuse the minds of Nigerians and the world towards the ethnic group.

Stressing that the Fulani are not behind the massacre, Arabi stated: “Those behind these killings and attacks opined are enemies of the government and not the Fulani. So, the world should please stop stereotyping us because we are a race that advocates for peace.”