Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has added his voice to the burning conversation around evacuation notices issued to Fulani herdsmen in some regions in the country for their alleged parts in festering violence and invasion of farmlands to destroy farmers’ toil.

Mr. El-Rufai, a Fulani himself, said the rights of every citizen to live anywhere should be respected.

In January, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo and popular Yoruba activist Sunday ‘Igboho’ Adeyemo gave the herdsmen an ultimatum to vacate their territories over claims that they use rainforests of the western states to perpetrate criminal activities.

Mr. Akeredolu asked the herdsmen to vacate Ondo forest reserves while Mr. Igboho agitated their evacuation from Oke-Ogun and other parts of Yorubaland.

However, Mr. El-Rufai, in a statement on Wednesday condemned the destruction of properties and labelling of an ethnic group as criminals, just as he described the call for their eviction as “unlawful”.

Reacting to some of the videos across social media where properties of alleged criminals were destroyed, the governor said some Kaduna citizens alleged that “the incidents have the support of leaders in the areas where the attacks occurred.”

“We should not be seduced into the dangerous passion of blaming innocents, declaring them guilty of the crimes of others, evicting them, killing and destroying their property,” he said, while maintaining that denying people their rights to live where they choose to only creates room for violence.

He also appealed to the states’ residents to respect the rights of all citizens to live in peace wherever they work and reside, just as he urged his counterparts in other states to issue similar statements to avoid chaos.

“It is time for governments and leaders at all levels to step in, exercise firm action, engage people and ensure that the responsibility these dire times demand is not derailed by those who only see opportunity for their own myopic agendas. We cannot allow, by inaction or otherwise, the reign of anarchy where fear creates a tragic momentum of violence, blurring the lines between victims and perpetrators and complicating a difficult moment.

We urge our representatives in the National Assembly to expedite action on the constitutional amendments that would usher in state and community policing as this is the ultimate panacea for effective law enforcement nationwide,” Mr. El-Rufai said.

The Kaduna governor also called on security agencies to rein in all non-state actors, like Mr. Igboho, tackle hateful rhetoric and protect all communities.

He said those who engage in criminal acts must be arrested and prosecuted without regard to their ethnic or religious persuasion.

Mr. El-Rufai is not immune to making hateful or sectional speeches of his own in defence of his ethnicity.

While protesting a military operation in parts of Kaduna to clear the area of criminal elements in 2012, Mr. El-Rufai, who was an opposition figure threatened that; “Anyone, soldier or not, who kills a Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.”