The Secretary-General of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Engr. Sale Alhassa Alhassan, has claimed that Fulani herdsmen in Plateau State have suffered severe genocide for over 25 years, but these incidents have gone largely unreported due to biased media coverage.
Alhassan made the allegations during a sensitization programme in Abuja on Saturday, stating that it was unfortunate that the media in Plateau State focuses on what he described as a “phantom” Christian genocide promoted by Christian leaders like Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, while neglecting the killings of herdsmen by “native militia” groups who also rustle their cattle.
“In the past 25 years, Fulani herdsmen in Plateau State have suffered serious and grievous genocide, but ongoing media narratives have presented biased reportage and downplayed these killings,” Alhassan said.
He insisted that Fulani pastoral communities have been repeatedly targeted, killed, displaced, and criminalized in the state and other Middle Belt regions.
“If we must be honest in this country, if there is anything close to genocide in Nigeria, it’s genocide against Fulani pastoralists in the last 25 years, especially in Plateau State,” he noted.
“Even in Benue, Zamfara, and Kebbi States, pastoralists have been deliberately targeted, killed, displaced, and some state governors even enacted laws that criminalised pastoralism.
“For those who may not know, records show that Fulani pastoralists have been attacked over the years in Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Numan in Adamawa, Southern Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sabon Birni in Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara South, Enugu, Ondo, and Anambra.
“The cases in Plateau and Taraba were taken to the ECOWAS Court, and many incidents apart from extrajudicial killings by the Nigerian Air Force in Nasarawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, cattle market massacres in Sokoto, and other areas, have seen no action taken.”
Alhassan argued that violence in Plateau and other areas is often blamed on Fulani pastoralists, but investigations frequently show that local communities are responsible.
He stressed that Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has consistently campaigned for peace in Plateau and across the country, but some natives, especially Berom youths, have resisted living peacefully with Fulani neighbors.
Alhassan also criticized individuals and groups he described as “genocide town criers,” accusing them of seeking international attention and foreign aid. He particularly accused Rev. Dachomo of using social media to curate content to curry favor and donations from international donors for personal gain.
He called for a holistic security approach to identify all perpetrators of violence but maintained that portraying herders as killers is false.
“Yes, some herders may be involved in the conflict, but the way the conflict is being portrayed, as if pastoralists are out to kill and destroy people, is not the truth. That is not the narrative,” he said.