Enugu Fulani community wants biometric capture of herdsmen

The leader of the Fulani community in Enugu, Alhaji Ardo Basso, wants the state government to set up a biometric registry for herdsmen in the state.

Basso disclosed this, on Wednesday, in Enugu, while testifying before the commission of inquiry into the killing of people and destruction of property in Nimbo community, Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of the state.

He said that the state had recorded an unprecedented influx of herdsmen that were strange to the Fulani community in the state, including the entrance of the Shua Arabs with their cattle.

He said that the development had contributed greatly to the heightened security lapses in most rural communities of the state.

Basso, who is also the Vice- Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the South East, said that the Fulani herdsmen resident in the state were peace loving and friendly.

“I have lived in Enugu State for 34 years while some have been here for upwards of 40 years. Those of our people that live here don’t foment trouble in our locality.

“The major problems we have are the Fulani herdsmen and others that come into the state from Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Niger states,” he said.

He said that such herdsmen move to the state freely and without any form of identification and that no form of comradeship existed between them and those permanently resident in the state.

“Before we enter into any community we usually meet with traditional rulers and town union presidents of such communities and even with the police.

“But those of our brothers who come from other parts of the country to graze between the months of December through March just enter without telling anybody and these are the people causing trouble.

“Government should help us set up a mechanism whereby any herdsman coming into the state must be registered and known to us,” he said.

Basso said that security agencies needed to dutifully carry out their responsibilities and arrest any herdsman caught with firearms without license.

He, however, said that it would be uncharitable to tell herdsmen not to carry daggers and machete.

“I don’t like the way our people carry gun, but it is a police matter and any herdsman held carrying gun without license should be arrested.

“But there is no how you will tell a herdsman not to carry dagger and machete. We use the machete to clear the road and rescue our cattle while the dagger is to promptly slaughter any cattle in distress if not it will be a terrible lose to us,” he said.

Basso said that there was nothing wrong for herdsmen to carry dagger and machete around residential areas and market places provided they did not harass residents with them.