By EMMANUEL MOGBEDE

A coalition of Pastoralists has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to call for a national dialogue and reconciliation on farmer-herder conflicts to ensure peaceful co-existence between both parties.

President of Kautal Pulaaku Fulbe Association of Nigeria, Dr Huseini Buzaye, made the call at a Peace and Security Conference on Sunday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association comprises leaders of over 30 pastoralist associations, under the Confederation of Pastoralists (CONPA).

NAN also reports that CONPA represents Nigerian pastoralists from all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Bazuye said the conference was aimed at drawing the attention of the Federal Government,the international community, human rights organisations and well-meaning Nigerians to the continuing plight of pastoralists in Nigeria.

He said that the dialogue should include: Miyetti Allah groups, traditional rulers, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), security agencies, state governments and indeed all Nigerians.

“Its mandate should be Truth, Justice, Forgiveness, Compensation, and a Roadmap for Peaceful Co-existence,” he said.

Bazuye noted that while government had major responsibility to provide security, justice, infrastructure and public services, pastoralist communities also had an important role to play.

He said pastoralist leaders, household, and young people should respect the rights and lawful property of farmers and other citizens, and take reasonable measures to prevent livestock from entering cultivated farmlands.

Buzaye said they should also cooperate with lawful security investigations, report cattle rustling and kidnapping, and reject banditry, violence and other criminal acts while encouraging their children to attend schools.

He added that they should promote peaceful dialogue with neighbouring communities, support responsible livestock management and environmental protection and reject misinformation, ethnic hostility and retaliatory violence.

Bazuye said the coalition would embark on mass sensitisation across the six geo-political zones, adding that a detailed framework had been worked out for the exercise.

While decrying ethnic profiling, he described pastoralists as Nigerians, not bandits.

“We love this country, our cattle feed this nation, our children want to go to school,” he said.

He called on the federal and state governments, traditional institution, farmers’ associations, security agencies and development partners to work together toward practical and lasting solutions.

“We advocate justice without discrimination, security without exclusion, development without marginalisation and peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and the rule of law,” he said.

Bazuye stressed the need for replacing suspicion with dialogue, conflict with cooperation, poverty with opportunity and exclusion with inclusive national development.

“Together, we can build a safer, fairer and more prosperous Nigeria for pastoralists, farmers and all citizens,” he said.

The association’s president noted that for too long, the word Fulani pastoralists had been profiled as synonymous with banditry, kidnapping and terrorism.

He said that the stereotyping, which he described as dangerous, had given impetus to jungle justice, extra-judicial killings and hate speech against innocent pastoralists, including women and children who had no connection with crime.

“We condemn in totality all forms of banditry and criminality. Criminals are criminals, and have no tribe.

“We call on security agencies and the media to stop ethnic profiling but arrest and prosecute criminals as individuals, not as an ethnic group,” he said.

According to him, an entire community cannot be punished for the sins of a few.

Bazuye added that in many of the attacks, women, children and the elderly were killed, while thousands of cattle were rustled or killed, and entire “Rugas” burnt down.

He appealed to the federal government to direct NEMA and other relevant agencies to provide relief materials to displaced pastoralist victims, as it had done for other communities.

He also appealed to security agencies to provide protection to pastoralists as Nigerian citizens under Section 14 and 33 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

He commend the president for creating the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, describing the move as an historic decision that gave hope after 60 years of agitation.

He, however, said there was the need to fund the ministry to make it active at the community level for it to achieve its set goals.

Bazuye also called for the establishment of pilot ranches and fodder production in the six geo-political zones of the country, noting that livestock was a 30 trillion economy that could not be treated with levity. (NAN)