The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a union of Fulani cattle breeders in the country, has disclosed the preparedness of the ethnic group to secede from Nigeria, while throwing its weight behind calls for the restructuring of the country.

National Secretary of the socio-cultural group, Saleh Alhassan, told Punch on Saturday that herders of Fulani extraction have been overtly disparaged and marginalised in many parts of the country, hence the expediency of disintegration.

Mr. Alhassan lamented that the controversial ethnic group had benefited little or nothing from the Nigerian federation, despite the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari (of Fulani origin).

“If everything busts (Nigeria disintegrates), it’s to the advantage of the herders because we are not even enjoying the federation,” Mr. Alhassan said. “We are even bidding for restructuring of the country; let every part go, so we can say this is where we are.” He added: “If the President is a Fulani, it doesn’t in any way affect the life of a herder. In fact, they are worse off under Buhari. Buhari has not done anything for us other than creating enemies for us.”

The Miyetti Allah leader decried the herders’ lack of access to government facilities under the Buhari administration, despite producing the bulk of the country’s animal protein.

“Herders are being chased around. If Buhari loves the herders, he would have created the grazing reserves for them,” he reckoned.

Earlier moves by the federal government to create grazing reserves for herders nationwide was widely rejected by Southern state governments.

The herders’ position could open another prong in raging conversations about secession in Nigeria. Already, some Yoruba and Igbo elements have been agitating for self-actualisation of their successive regions, citing injustice from the centre.

Fulani herdsmen have come under severe crackdown from both state and non-state actors in the Southwest, following a resurgence in farmer-herder clashes, kidnappings and a variety of other violent crimes alleged to be majorly instigated by Fulanis. 

Cattle breeders in the country have abhorred the singling out of the Fulani ethnic group for victimisation, rather than the reprimand of those behind the crimes.