The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari should be held responsible if any northerner fall victim of harassment in any Southern part of Nigeria.
The group and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) had earlier advice that Fulani herdsmen should relocate back to the north until the controversial Ruga policy is finalised but the President in a statement urged the herders to disregard the directive, saying every Nigerian has right to live in any part of the country.
Reacting to the presidential declaration through a statement on Thursday in Abuja, signed by its spokeman, Abdu-Azeez Sulaiman, reminded the President that “Northerners would hold them fully responsible should any one of them fall victim of the consequences of the concerns we raised.”
The group who appreciated the prompt response of the federal government to the advice given to the Fulani herdsmen residing in the South to return home if their safety was no longer assured in the face of flagrant threats and intimidation, stated that “We are even more encouraged by the heart-warming attempt made to assure Nigerians of governments determination to provide adequate security to all citizens living in any part of the country as contained in the nation’s constitution.
“It is apparent that government’s initial silence throughout the recent weeks when various southern leaders and regional organizations were busy issuing incendiary threats and vituperations against the Fulani and northerners living in the South smacked of discriminatory application of this important constitutional provision.
“We however find it even more inexplicable and disturbing that government kept mute and allowed this errant behaviour from some southern leaders and groups only for it to find its voice when threatened northerners were advised to consider returning home to safety.
“We are thus compelled to wonder what happened to the constitutional safeguard available for northerners when the government they played a key role in ushering abandoned them to the mercy of cold-blooded killers without corresponding concern or care.
“Should we assume that the hundreds of people being displaced, despoiled and depopulated in Katsina, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Niger and other parts of the North are not deserving of protection and support? It is astonishing that the death of the daughter of an Afenifere chieftain, in the hands of unknown assailants, painful as it is, should trigger more robust and timely response than that of the large scale and massive killings being witnessed in the above mentioned northern states.
“CNG wholeheartedly welcomes the assurance given by Mr. President and his government to protect and guarantee the safety of all Nigerians anywhere they are including the threatened herdsmen in the South. We however wish to remind Mr President and the government that Northerners would hold them fully responsible should any one of them fall victim of the consequences of the concerns we raised.”
