The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has threatened to take legal action against any media outfit that unjustly profiles Fulani pastoralists as terrorists and kidnappers.
A statement issued by the national secretary of the MACBAN, Bello Gotomo, the association expressed deep concerns over the negative profiling of Fulani pastoralists as kidnappers by both traditional and new media.
While stressing that criminality is not unique to Fulani pastoralists, the MACBAN scribe said there’s no basis for the media to narrow its searchlight on Fulani alone.
He added that criminals should be seen as such, no matter their religious or ethnic inclination.
“This attitude only results in shielding the identity of the real perpetrators. Now that investigations are clearly linking such crimes to other ethnic groups, the media ought to apologise to Fulani pastoral communities for the unnecessary vilification and haunting of the innocent,” he said.