A Fulani youth group, under the umbrella of ‘Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau’ has given reasons why the lingering violence and crisis in the state will not end soon.
According to the group, true peace and genuine reconciliation among host communities and Fulani people cannot be achieved if local gangs, especially the “Berom Militias,” do not stop attacking and killing innocent herdsmen and their livestock, which is their only means of livelihood.
The group, after a meeting in Jos on Tuesday, said as much as the Fulani people desire a peaceful coexistence with their hosts, they would also not sit back and watch their people being killed and their livestock stolen by local gangs.
In a communique issued at the end of the meeting signed by its convener, Saleh Umaru, the Fulani group insisted that most of the attacks attributed to Fulani herdsmen have been more of reprisal attacks to either avenge the killings of their people or to recover their stolen cows.
“After a wide range consultations with different Fulani groups, communities and individual herders across Plateau State, the Concerned Fulani Youths in Plateau, have come to the unanimous conclusion that a major cause of the lingering violence between herdsmen and local communities especially in Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas which are predominantly Berom lands are as a result of attacks and killings of Fulani people by Berom Militia gangs,” Umaru said.
“While we are not completely exonerating the herdsmen as there are some who have taken
