SAN FRANCISCO, July 09, (THEWILL) – Ahmad Salkida, a journalist known for having access to Boko Haram insurgents has claimed that contrary to recent claims by President Muhammadu Buhari that Fulani herdsmen only “carry sticks,” an insight that gives a lie to this has been obtained by him
In recorded audio and video materials documented by one of the leaders of the Fulani Herders’ Militia, who gave his name only as Sarkin Yaki, the group has owned up to the systemic killings in the North East and North Central states of Nigeria.
In the audio recording, Sarkin Yaki, whose real name is Buba and widely known in his community as Jauro Buba, mocked their victims particularly the community chiefs in Bachama kingdom around Numan in Adamawa state for their vulnerability, and helplessness before his gallant warriors.
Dismissing the civilian communities as inconsequential, Buba said that faced with the ruthless wrath of his militiamen, these communities stood no chance of defending their people or even repelling his militiamen.
Detailing the locations where he successfully led his campaigns, Salkida claimed that Buba listed the communities in Adamawa and environs to include Numa, Kikan, Safaran, Lauro, Dom, Bemti, Balahin, Wurdi, Ngamaldio, Geme, Dumusu, Bolki, Nega and Mpam. He described his victims in these communities as cowards.
“We have over 800 rifles, machine guns; Fulani now have bombs and military uniforms,” he boasted.
Blaming the military for doing nothing to protect them and their livestock, the Sarkin Yaki states: “we used to be shy of soldiers, but whenever we are killed or our cows are stolen, soldiers don’t come to us,” Buba declares, warning that his people “are no longer afraid of soldiers now that they have taken sides with their enemies.”
The Militia commander stated the genesis of the violence: “a result of one herdsman who was praying and his cow(s) strayed into the farmland of a villager, and the farmers pursued the cow back to the herd and met the herdsman still saying his prayers.
The farmers attacked the Fulani man, whom according to Buba, had charms that made him unhurt by the attempts to hack him to death. The Fulani man wrestled one of the attackers and stabbed him to death. The following day, the Fulani community nearby was attacked, killing scores and burning down the village.”
He nevertheless did not mention the specific community where this incident occurred nor did he state the date. He further points accusing fingers at another village he considered complicit in the war against the Fulanis as Kikan in Adamawa, where according to him, “Fulani children and women were hacked to death, and their cows were either killed or taken away, their houses and properties in that village were burnt down.”
Addressing his anger towards the Bachama chiefs, Buba scoffed: “You went further to say, every single Fulani should leave Bachama kingdom, not only Fulanis, you said all Muslims too. So, I want to ask you where is it in the constitution that only one tribe can live and co-exist in a particular place? Which religion states that only one ethnic group can stay and live in a community?”
Buba, who lives in the border community between Benue and Cross River state, according to informed sources, has coordinated disturbing and chilling attack in Benue, Adamawa, Taraba states within this year. Buba has however admitted leading the attacks in Adamawa state.
Buba dismissed media speculations linking the motivation for their targeted attacks to President Buhari’s administration. “Did anyone banish the Fulanis from anywhere or killed them as it is the case today?”
He claimed that attacks against the Fulanis escalated only during this administration, hence their decision to take up arms at a large scale. The notorious mass murderer who has curiously evaded security tracking equally dismissed links with Boko Haram elements in their fold.
