President Muhammadu Buhari has told Fulani herdsmen to ignore the call by the Northern Elders Forum to leave southern Nigeria.
President Buhari made this known in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant, Garba Shehu.
In the statement, the president urged Fulani herdsmen to disregard the call as he questioned the motive of the Northern Elders Forum.
The statement reads:
“All citizens of Nigeria are free to move and live within any part of the country they please, whether or not they are originally from there.
“In line with our country’s constitution, the government of Nigeria and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will protect citizens of Nigeria wherever they find themselves.
“No one has the right to ask anyone or group to depart from any part of the country, whether north, south, east or west,” the President said.
“They have no one’s authority to make such pronouncements.
“The polarising role of the Northern Elders Forum and all those other groups dabbling into issues of security to score cheap political points has for long been a sore point in Nigeria’s body polity.
“They should not be allowed to mislead anyone, least of all the Fulani herders.
“The Buhari administration is fully devoted to finding a lasting solution to the herder-farmer clashes in different parts of Nigeria- one that would be acceptable to all the parties involved.”