According to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, the armed Fulani herders who invade the state are Malians rather than Nigerians.
According to Alia, these armed herders speak Hausa and Fulani, which are different from what is available in Nigeria.
Numerous armed herder attacks have occurred in Benue State, resulting in multiple fatalities.
Otukpo, Ado, Logo, and other local government areas had been targeted by these armed herdsmen.
But according to the governor, these AK-47-wielding attackers don’t resemble Nigeria’s native Fulanis.
Alia revealed this during her appearance on Politics Today on Channels Television on Tuesday.
“By our ethnicities, we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man—we know them,” Alia claims.
We are familiar with even the typical traditional herders. They use sticks to herd the cows they labor with.
However, the assailants are arriving fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They don’t have the Nigerian appearance. Their speech differs from ours. One kind of Hausa is even the Hausa they speak.
It’s not the Hausa that we Nigerians typically speak. In the same way, the Fulani speak. They speak a language that has a trend, and some of our people who can understand it give it names.
They claim that they are Malians and that they are not like our people. But, believe it or not, they are not Nigerians.