The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo has branded Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President a sponsor of Fulani herdsmen who have been killing hundreds of Nigerians.
Unongo who said this during an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday described Atiku as a prince of the Tiv Court, a chief financier and most influential member of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the apex body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.
The NEF Chairman said, “I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.
“This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them. This is the man who heads Miyetti Allah and is the greatest financier of this organisation. He has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah.
“It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place and then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people, and the government is doing nothing!”
When asked if he was sure that Atiku was the most influential member of the Miyetti Allah, Unongo said the former Vice President told him personally that he was an influential member of the association.
Unongo also berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for treating the Fulani herdsmen crisis with kid gloves.
He said he had been warning the President for nearly three years about the crisis but that the President’s “insensitive” advisers had been deceiving him into thinking the matter was a small one.
Unongo, who is both Tiv and Fulani, said, “The President is not happy about what is happening, but his insensitive advisers have deceived him into thinking this is not a serious issue, which they keep saying they can handle, but it has now festered to a level where it is difficult to take care of.”
The NEF chairman said it was unfortunate that despite the several threats made by the Fulani herdsmen after the antiopen grazing law came into effect, the government failed to take action.
He said, “Miyetti Allah threatened and said upon the implementation of the law, they would attack in January violently and force the withdrawal of the law. I don’t understand. It didn’t make sense at the time, but it means that perhaps the Miyetti Allah wanted to prove to the people and the government of Benue State that when they make a promise, they keep to it.”
However, the former Vice President said that although he is a Fulani, denying that he was not a member of the Miyetti Allah.
Atiku stated this in his reaction to the allegations levelled against him by Unongo.
