Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has described the recall of Northerners, especially the Fulani herders, from the southern part of the country as unpatriotic and retrogressive.
In the height of unrest between herders and farmers in the south, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and Coalition of Northern Forum (CNF) called Fulani herders to return to the North to curtail the killings.
Vehemently rejecting the position, Ganduje insisted that regardless of ethnic or religious inclination, Nigerians possess the right to reside in any part of the country, without fear of attack or molestation.
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The governor spoke yesterday when he hosted the Igbo community in Kano to a special dinner in honour of Eze Ndigbo Kano, Igwe Boniface Ibekwe, on his 10th Ofala, at the Government House.
Ganduje, who was worried about the roaming of herdsmen with their livestock, said that was the major reason the federal government was rooting for the establishment of Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) settlements.
“We don’t share the same feeling with those who are calling on the Fulani to leave the South because people have a choice, as far as the Nigerian constitution is concerned, to live wherever they choose,” he said.
The Eze Ndigbo Kano, who also rejected the idea of recalling Fulani from the South, asserted that such interest might put the lives of southerners residing in the Northern in danger.