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A strong voice from the Fulani in the Northern Nigeria may have sounded a death-knell to the 2023 presidential ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, citing his reticence on Fulani herders’ crises in the Southwest.
A former Governor of Jigawa State, Malam Sule Lamido took a swipe at the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), for his seeming indifference on the recent “attack” on Fulani in the zone.
With an air of finality, Lamido ruled out Buhari handing over power to Tinubu in 2023, saying the romance that existed between the president and the APC national leader had been concluded.
“Buhari used Tinubu to become Nigeria’s president. Likewise, Tinubu used Buhari to fulfill his political desire. So, it is a mutual interest that had been fulfilled. So, the agenda has been concluded.
“The southerners used Buhari to attain their political goals. Those goals are political and economic goals, such as appointments and infrastructure, which is now happening there.
“Let me tell you that they just used Buhari because he is the main attraction and appeal in the country. That is why they used him to lead the coalition because in the legacy party no material except Buhari. He is the only material that could be sold easily in the country from the legacy parties, that is what happened.
“So, it is now over. It was a mutual arrangement and all desires had been fulfilled by both parties,” Persecondnews quotes Lamido as saying.
Receiving the 27 newly elected Local Government Chairmen of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state in his office, an Obasanjo loyalist, believed that Fulanis were being “persecuted” in the country especially the southwest because they belong to Buhari’s tribe.
Lamido has also turned the heat on the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, his counterparts in transportation and labour employment ministries, Rotimi Amaechi and Chris Ngige “for not defending Fulanis in their region despite being Buhari’s boys.”
Despite their support for Buhari presidency in 2015, they could not defend his people, he said.
“Buhari did not come to power but with the support of Tinubu and other politicians in the South; those that supported him to be the president have failed to protect his people while in a difficult situation.
“Buhari being a Fulani man by tribe does not mean every Fulani in the northern part of Nigeria supported and voted for him, even me as a Fulani man did not vote for him.
“They are reading Fulani through Buhari, who is also of Fulani tribe. They failed to understand that it is not every Fulani that supports Buhari. Even me, I am a Fulani by tribe but did not vote for Buhari.
“But, what Fulanis are going through in this country is unfortunate. We are being persecuted, abused, endangered, called names, just because Buhari is from us. This is not fair. This is unjust.
“Why have those from the South, who brought Buhari to power in 2015 failed to defend his people in their region? Where are the Tinubus, Fasholas, Amaechis, Ngiges, Soyinkas, Rochas, where are all these, why can’t they protect Buhari’s people?” Lamido queried.
According to him, Fulanis like other Nigerians, have the right to live in every part of the country. The tribe is now facing persecution, especially in the hands of Yoruba, he alleged.
Persecondnews recalls that on January 18, 2021, Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredelu had issued a seven-day ultimatum to Fulani herders to quit state forest reserves, citing the rising cases of insecurity in the state including kidnappings, rapes and killings.
Similarly, a self-styled liberator, Sunday Adeyemo, a k.a Sunday Igboho issued an ultimatum to Fulanis to leave Oyo state or face severe consequences, a situation that led him to mobilize his followers to storm lbarapa area of the state to evict Seriki Fulani, Salihu Abdukadir.
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