By Emeka Okafor
The Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa (COFPIA) has rebuked Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore over its attack on the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi.
COFPIA, a Fulani professional group, said the comment by the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah, Alhaji Alhasan Salah, against Peter Obi as “politically sponsored.”
It said Obi has the capacity to rescue Nigeria from its current socio-political challenges, noting that Miyetti Allah’s position is not binding on all Fulani people.
COFPIA in a statement signed by its National President, Prof. Mohammed Gidado, and Secretary, Hajiya Mairo Modibo, stressed that Fulani people, like other Nigerians, will vote for a President who will solve issues of hunger, poverty and insecurity that is ravaging the country.
The organisation called on Nigerians to disregard any statement from Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore, saying it did not speak for Fulani ethnic group or represented the Fulani in any way.
Miyetti Allah’s National Secretary, Alhasan Salah, had in an interview boasted that Fulani nation would not support the candidature of Obi in the 2023 presidential election.
He accused Obi of being a tribal bigot but also as someone who did not like the North, and by extension, the Fulani tribe.
But, COFPIA, in their reaction to Miyetti Allah’s comment, said Fulbe people all over Nigeria “will not be binded by that politically sponsored statement of Miyetti Allah.”
“Our attention has been drawn to a sectional, unpatriotic, ungodly and senseless statement credited to one of our brothers, Alhajji Hassan Saleh, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the most controversial Fulani group in Nigeria, which no doubt, is responsible for the bad name Fulani nation has been branded with in Nigeria.
According to the group, “The Fulbe all over Nigeria will not be binded by that politically sponsored statement of Miyetti Allah anymore.
“The Fulani people are wise now and cannot be used as tools of extortion and religious sentiment any more. We will enlighten our people to vote for competence and capacity come 2023. We will never vote for any candidate who has nothing to offer. We have gone far beyond religious and ethnic sentiments.
“We will vote for a President that will tackle poverty and acute hunger that have held our people hostage for so long. We will vote for a President that will fight insecurity with every commitment and unbiased mind, no matter who is involved.
“Our respected tribal group, Miyetti Allah, should channel their campaign to redeem the bad image they have created for Fulani people in Nigeria rather than casting aspersions on Peter Obi, who has demonstrated capacity to rescue Nigeria from the current hopelessness.
“We wish to also make it categorically clear that we have not endorsed Obi or any presidential candidate in the forth-coming general election and we are not Obi’s mouthpiece, but it is wrong for our people to continue to brand Peter Obi as a tribal bigot and that he doesn’t like the North. Available data has shown Obi as an ardent nationalist that believes in the unity of Nigeria.
“We, therefore, call on our brothers in the Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore to only speak for their group, rather than misleading Nigerians that they are speaking for the entire Fulani people.
“They lack the moral, spiritual, and religious rights to speak for the entire Fulani people in Nigeria, especially when they have reduced themselves to tribal bigots that has no regards for other tribes and faiths.
“Nigerians have taken position in the forthcoming elections to vote for the best man for the job and cannot be distracted by any selfish agenda and blackmail.
“As campaigns start, we shall mobilise and enlighten Fulani, young and, old to every ruga’s and town to sensitize our people so as not to be deceived by Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore and its like.”
