Fulani elders have distanced themselves from the comments credited to the President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Bodejo, saying he lacked the mandate and moral standing to speak for the Fulani.
Bodejo had in a recent interview in a national daily, attempted to whittle down the alleged 2019 presidential bid of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Tinubu.
But in a statement issued yesterday by Concerned Fulani Leaders Forum, and signed by Muhammad Musa Bawa (Manman), from Sabin Garin Nabordo in Bauchi State, the elders alleged that Badejo made the statement to serve some dubious interest.
The forum questioned the credentials of Bodejo and slammed him for attempting to arrogate to himself the power of Nigerians to determine who leads them.
“In 2015, he aligned himself with the then-governing PDP. To warm himself into the heart of the party, he headed for Aso Rock Villa where he endorsed former President Goodluck Jonathan in the name of Fulani in Nigeria, a crime the Fulani people are yet to forgive him for. He castigated General Muhammadu Buhari, calling him all kinds of unprintable names.
“In the run-up to the 2019 election, Bello Bodejo also made frantic efforts to align with the PDP’s presidential candidate, AlhajiAtiku Abubakar, holding several meetings with him in his Asokoro residence. When all efforts to dupe Atiku Abubakar failed, he resorted to outright blackmail, again saying many unpalatable things about Atiku.
“He later made frantic efforts to reach out to Tinubu in January, 2019 to sell himself as someone with mass followers. But his satanic plans couldn’t sail through with a highly-intelligent Tinubu, hence Bello Bodejo’s unprovoked outburst.
“Nigerians should know Bello Bodejo through his past antecedents.
“On the issue of 2019 he raised, no one can arrogate to himself the power to decide who should lead or aspire to lead the country. The generality of the Nigerian people will take that crucial decision. The way and manner he spoke suggests he is out to play God, which speaks to the creeping-in of early signs of schizophrenia expressed in infantile behaviours.
“Tinubu is eminently qualified and well equipped to lead the country irrespective of the thinking of people like Bodejo. Leadership comes from God Almighty alone. Instead of focusing on the many challenges facing the herders’ community, Bodejo is busy building castles in the air.
“He failed to acknowledge the many fine attributes of the APC National Leader. Among other things, it is on record that Tinubu, in his uniqueness of regularly intervening to proffer solutions to problems, sought to find panacea for many problems, including the lingering farmers-herders’ crisis in Nigeria. Tinubu singlehandedly sponsored many noble initiatives aimed at fostering peaceful coexistence between the communities in dispute.
“He sponsored two days interactive dialogue sessions in Abuja between farmers and herders where the same Bodejo was not only present but stayed till the end. At that time, he would tell anyone that cared to listen that Tinubu was the best thing to have happened to the country. Why the change in posture now, we may ask Bodejo?
“It is instructive to note that the Fulani culture abhors shameful and disrespectful conduct, especially in relating to our elders. We call on Bodejo to desist forthwith from using the name of Miyetti Allah to spread his odious gospel of hate. He should tender an unreserved apology to Tinubu.
“His campaign of hate and calumny is manifested in the way he tries to underplay or even deny Tinubu’s important contributions to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
This is unfortunate, myopic and in bad taste. We must, however, make it clear that it is Tinubu’s inalienable right to vie for the highest office in the land or not. We call on Tinubu to exercise this fundamental right as he deems fit”.
