A former Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, has stated that Nigeria has treated Fulani people unfairly, pointing out that for the herders crisis across the country to be addressed, justice must be done to them.

Yuguda stated this in an interview with journalists shortly after his revalidation as a member of the All Progressives Congress on Monday at the Destination Bauchi Hotel.

The ex-governor, who is also a former minister of Aviation, accused past governments in the country of creating banditry by their refusal to address the plight of herders whose cattle routes had been taken.

He said, “It is not their making that they are what they are today. How did you create banditry from a people that have never known banditry? They have never been known to be bandits but stick-carrying people.

“In fact, the fertile ground for breeding them (bandits) was created by Nigeria government over the years. I am not saying this government, but over the years. Where are the grazing reserves? Where are the cattle routes?

ALSO READ: PETROL LANDING COST JUMPS TO N186, OIL HITS $64

He said despite the contributions of the Fulani to the economy, they were still being treated unfairly.

According to him, if the government could release huge sums of money as subsidies in agriculture, why can’t the government subsidise pastoralism?

Yuguda said, “Most importantly, the neglect of the Fulani, especially the cattle rearers who are presently giving Nigeria a minimum of one million cattle everyday to slaughter and take as beef, their treatment by the Nigerian people have been most unfair.

 “What I am saying in essence is that the Nigerian state has not been fair to these people. When the White man came, he respected them because they were his source of revenue, not only that he provided cattle routes from Maiduguri to Otukpo, from Sokoto to Lokoja and Ilorin, and these infrastructure were provided by the white people.”