Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the Fulani socio-cultural association, on Wednesday, took its expansionist steps further by announcing the establishment of a nationwide security outfit, which it claimed will help to checkmate curtail security challenges confronting the country.
Formation of the vigilante was announced by Bello Bodejo and Saleh Alhassan, the National President and Secretary of the association, respectively, through a communique issued in Abuja. The duo said the outfit, called Miyetti Allah Vigilante, will assist security agencies in stopping crimes including kidnapping, cattle rustling, and banditry.
The announcement of the birth of the outfit has raised a volley of criticisms from other regional groups across the nation. Among the groups that have condemned the action are the pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as well as the Niger Delta’s PANDEF, all saying the development was unacceptable.
The announcement came a day after the federal government said it was deregistering some sociocultural organizations in the country on security concerns.
The regional sociocultural organization argues that the Fulani group must restrict its activities to its locality, instead of having a nationwide posture.
Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere’s spokesman, said the group was waiting for the response of the country’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami over the security outfit. “We wait for the response of Malami, who said Yoruba governors could not do Amotekun on territories they were elected to govern; the law that allows non-state actors like Miyetti Allah, to set up vigilante all over Nigeria. “This is the type of corruption that kills a country, which this government is condoning.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo toed the same line, saying that Miyetti Allah had been making this plan for long.
Chuks Ibegbu, the group’s spokesman declared in a statement he released on Wednesday that, “I think these Miyetti Allah people are either restless or mischief-makers. They are attention seekers and trouble makers.”
“If they want to set up security outfits in their states, it should be to checkmate terrorists among them and that should only be in their states of origin. Zones are now floating regional security outfits and that is enough. This group should stop distracting Nigerians.”
But the leaders of Miyetti Allah said the outfit’s operations would be guided by the constitutional provisions and legal requirements of the country. Further, they requested the Inspector-General of Police to protect Fulani cattle herdsmen in parts of the country from attackers. across the country from tribal hordes, ethnic militias, and cattle rustlers.
Miyetti asked the nation’s security agencies to begin the compilation of the violence against Fulani herdsmen, including the collection of exhibits and all relevant information to identify the perpetrators of the violence, arrest, and prosecute them to forestall reprisals.
The group also condemned stories of alleged extra-judicial killings of Fulani pastoralists by some security agencies in the country. It asked the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, to investigate the reports with a view to bringing the actors to justice.
