A delegation of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Fulani Socio-Cultural Association on Monday met with the Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, over the plight of the group’s members in the nation’s capital.
The delegation led by the North-Central Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Gidado Idris Bebeji, highlighted challenges affecting members within the FCT, including clashes with farmers, conflicts with local vigilante groups, attacks by kidnappers and cattle rustlers, as well as attacks on herders and poisoning of cattle by farmers.
The group also lamented that members’ businesses are being affected by the gradual encroachment of traditional grazing routes by farms, estates and residential developments.
They informed the CP that the development has contributed to increasing tensions between herdsmen, residents and farmers in different communities.
Responding, the Commissioner of Police acknowledged the concerns raised by the association, assuring that issues within the control of the FCT Police Command would be promptly attended to and handled in accordance with the law.
CP Sanusi, however, noted that some of the concerns raised fall outside the mandate of the Command and assured the delegation that such matters would be communicated to the relevant authorities for appropriate action.
He further pledged to engage farmers, community leaders, and other local stakeholders with a view to addressing areas of disagreement and fostering peaceful coexistence.
According to him, mutual understanding and respect among herders, farmers and host communities remain necessary to sustaining peace and preventing conflicts especially in the nation’s capital.
While addressing the delegation, the Commissioner of Police expressed concern over the practice of allowing underaged children to undertake cattle grazing, as well as night grazing and grazing within towns and the city centre.
He warned against grazing cattle along major roads and within urban areas, noting that such practices endanger members of the public, the herders themselves, and their livestock.
The CP advised that grazing activities should be restricted to the outskirts and that farmlands should be avoided in order to prevent disputes and destruction of crops.
