Labeling all herdsmen ‘killers’ could ignite crisis – El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has warned against tagging all herdsmen as criminals and killers, stressing that doing so is dangerous and can ignite crisis in Nigeria.

El-Rufai declared banditry has become an industry and Nigerians must work together to put an end to it.

The Governor stated these while receiving leaders of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria led by Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba.

He said there are good as well as bad people in every ethnic group, declaring Nigerians should not, because of activities of a few bad elements, tag an entire ethnic or religious group criminal.

According to El Rufai: “There was a time when armed robbery was the exclusive preserve of people of a certain part of the country but they were never profiled as ‘’X’’ armed robbers.

“Advanced Fee Fraud is also unique to some parts of the country but their ethnicity is never tagged when calling them Yahoo boys.

“I think in the same manner, we should be very careful in assuming that every herdsman is a criminal or every Fulani is a herdsman or every herdsman is a killer.

“This is a dangerous trend that can ignite crisis in this country. There are criminals amongst them and we must identify and deal with them.”

He added: ‘’This insecurity is all over the country. And some mischievous people are trying to use it to further divide us along ethnic and religious lines.

“Our view here in Kaduna state is, in every ethnic group, in every religion there are good people and bad people. And our duty as leaders is to identify the bad people and arrest and prosecute them.”