SOKAPU Raises Concern Over Plan To Arm Vigilante Group

Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has appealed to the federal government to stop the plan by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to arm the Fulani community in the name of vigilante group.

SOKAPU argued that any attempt to allow the Fulani to form, arm, kit and operate an armed wing, will give room to other ethnic groups to do the same, a situation it said may spark another civil war in Nigeria.

In a statement issued yesterday by its spokesman, Luka Binniyat,  SOKAPU described the news of the plan as unwelcome development, which it said should alarm all Nigerians who care about the existence of the country as a corporate entity.

SOKAPU categorically said that Miyetti Allah is not a government agency and therefore cannot make laws that rivals that of a government that hosts its members.

According to the statement, “The secretary-general of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Hassan, made the grim disclosure Four days ago in an interview he granted the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).

“Hassan made unsavory and disrespectful remarks on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and disparaged him for forming the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards. He vowed that his group was floating its own vigilante group to ‘protect’ its members, boasting that they have the funds for such a curious project.

“Hassan ought to have been called for questioning to find the real motive behind such an unwarranted plan and to ascertain how far his group has gone into the scheme. In fact, the group ought to have been banned. That is what a serious country will do.

“The Fulani, even as a large ethnic group, do not have an exclusive state in almost all the states of Nigeria, and are certainly not natives of Benue State or anywhere in the Middle Belt. Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore is not a government and therefore cannot make laws that rivals that of a government that hosts its members.

“It is therefore absurd as it is preposterous for Hassan to assume that his group can stay on Benue lands and indeed in other states and form parallel security outfits with that of their host’s governments. Such arrogance is rare to come by.

“With over 200 Southern Kaduna communities sacked and displaced by armed herdsmen and allied criminals after hundreds were killed and more wounded, the sight of an armed Fulani vigilante force on our soil will be a very provocative act that will push other tribes to form the same. This group apparently cares less of the sensitivity of other tribal groups.”

It noted that Governor Samuel Ortom is the elected governor of Benue State and by the constitution of Nigeria, he is the chief security officer of Benue State and saddled with the most important reason why a government exists, which is the protection of lives and property of all residents.

“SOKAPU believes that all the laws enacted by Benue State House of Assembly and assented by the governor, protects all residents of Benue State, irrespective of tribe, religion or vocation. We also believe that Benue State laws do not discriminate against tribes or religion. Only breakers of the law have reasons to fear.

“Any attempt therefore, to allow the Fulani to form, arm, kit and operate an armed wing so brazenly, is to also approve other ethnic groups to do the same. In other words, SOKAPU is saying that a civil war may spark off if Fulani and other ethnic groups obtain arms for the exclusive reason of protecting themselves as groups under various independent commands.

“President Muhammadu Buhari must not take this lightly, even though he is fond of glossing over serious matters of security concerns.

“For the avoidance of doubt, SOKAPU condemns the formation of Fulani vigilante force. In fact the Fulani have been accused of horrific crimes in many communities in Nigeria, given the truth that not all Fulani are outlaws. It is for the pervasive bloody crimes that criminal elements of Fulani have been accused of that spurred some state governments to create their own vigilante outfits,” it said.