The Emir of Muri Empire, Abbas Tafida has given 30 days ultimatum to armed herdsmen to leave the forests in Taraba State or face consequences.
Tafida, during the Eid-el Kabir sermon, issued the warning as he lamented the terror unleashed by armed herdsmen who have allegedly been killing, kidnapping, and raping residents.
He stated that the people had warmly accepted the Fulani but did not expect such treatment as payback from the herders.
He warned that, if anyone is kidnapped from his emirate subsequently, armed youths will besiege the forest and kill any Fulani man in sight irrespective of his occupation.
The Emir also warned that anyone conniving with kidnappers or protecting them from being prosecuted will be punished severely, including police officers.
He said, “From now onwards if anyone is kidnapped from this emirate, we will go into the bush and kill any Fulani man we see and we will not ask for his name or what he does because the Fulanis cannot say they do not know the kidnappers, they had better stop them.
“Our young people are inactive. Police at a time caught a district head conniving with kidnappers and they gave him bail, he had the audacity to go back to his district and the youths did nothing.
“From now on, anyone caught conniving with kidnappers, we will kill him and his family members. Police should be warned! We have respect for them but when next they arrest someone conniving with kidnappers and they let the person go free, we will also arm the youth to protect the citizens.
”Our Fulani herdsmen in the forests, you came into this state and we accepted you, why then will you be coming to towns and villages to kidnap residents, even up to the extent of raping our women? If you are not a Muslim, let us know.
“Because of this unending menace, every Fulani herdsman in this state have been given 30 days ultimatum to vacate the forests. We are tired of having sleepless nights and the hunger alone in the land is enormous and we will not allow this oppression to continue.”
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