The National Secretary of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Engr. Saleh Alhassan, on Thursday claimed that Fulani pastoralists have been victims of systematic killings, displacement and criminalisation across several states for more than two decades, describing the situation as the “closest thing to genocide” in Nigeria.
Alhassan made the claim during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, where he faulted ongoing narratives describing herders as aggressors.
According to him, the country has failed to acknowledge years of unchecked violence against Fulani pastoral communities.
“If we must be honest, anything close to genocide in this country is the genocide against Fulani pastoralists for the past 25 years — from Plateau to Benue, to Zamfara and Kebbi,” he said.
“Pastoralists have been deliberately targeted, killed, displaced, and some state governments even enacted laws that criminalised pastoralism.”
The Miyetti Allah scribe accused some individuals and religious leaders of escalating tensions by presenting selective narratives of the conflict to the international community.
He referenced a bishop who reportedly took accounts of violence in Benue to the United States, alleging that such actions were driven by the search for “foreign aid” rather than balanced conflict reporting.
“He failed to contextualise the actual conflict,” Alhassan said, questioning why Nigerian institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission and the Senate were being bypassed.
He also expressed displeasure that despite submitting a memorandum to the Senate on resolving the herder–farmer crisis, Miyetti Allah had not been invited for any engagement.
Alhassan alleged that violent attacks against herders had worsened in recent weeks, particularly after public comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump on religious killings in Nigeria.
“In the last three weeks, pastoralists have been devastated in Kebbi State. They have been attacked in Niger and in Benue. Entire families have been wiped out and not a single word from security agencies or even the media,” he claimed.
He cited alleged attacks in Kebbi, Niger, and Benue’s Ohimini Local Government Area, insisting that pastoralists were being punished for crimes they did not commit.
According to him, herders are too often wrongly accused whenever violence erupts. “If there are conflicts in Benue, you accuse the pastoralist. After investigation, you discover locals are responsible,” he stated.
Alhassan’s comments come amid heightened insecurity across the North-Central and North-West regions, where banditry, kidnappings, and farmer–herder clashes have resurged.
In the last two weeks alone, no fewer than 350 people have been abducted across multiple states, with at least seven deaths recorded in separate attacks.
Recent incidents include: mass abductions in Kebbi and Niger, where over 300 schoolchildren and teachers were seized by gunmen.
38 worshippers kidnapped in Kwara, during an attack on a Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku that left three people dead.
A pastor and his wife abducted in Kogi, following an attack on a Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Yagba West.
A bride-to-be and her bridesmaids kidnapped in Sokoto’s Wurno LGA, in another attack linked to bandits.
The Ojibara of Bayagan in Kwara and six others narrowly escaping abductors, who had earlier demanded ₦150 million for the monarch’s release.
The Miyetti Allah secretary argued that a holistic approach to national security is urgently needed, warning that stereotyping pastoralists as killers would only entrench division.
“Yes, some herders may be involved in conflicts, but the way the narrative is being pushed — as if pastoralists exist to kill and destroy — is not the truth,” he said.
Alhassan reiterated the group’s support for ongoing government measures aimed at restoring peace but noted that ignoring attacks on pastoralists would prolong the crisis.
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