A Fulani professional organization called the Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa (COFPIA) has publicly disassociated itself from a statement made by Alhaji Alhasan Saleh, National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, in which Saleh criticized Labour Party presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi.
COFPIA urged Nigerians to dismiss Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore’s statements, arguing that they do not represent the Fulani people or speak for them.
National Secretary of the controversial Fulani group Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Alhasan had previously told a Nigerian newspaper in an interview that the Fulani nation would not back the candidature of Obi, who is running for president in 2023 as a Labour Party candidate.
Mr. Peter Obi, according to Alhasan, is a tribal bigot who despises the North and, by consequence, the Fulani people.
‘Obi is a tribal bigot and supports the Biafran interest which would not suit the Fulani nation in Nigeria,’ he claimed, adding that the group’s leadership had urged all Fulani in the country not to vote for him.
“as far as Miyetti Allah is concerned, Obi is out of the alternatives of candidates to be voted for in the future elections,” said the Fulani group’s National Secretary-General.
We are well aware of the candidates we will not support. When you see someone called Obi or OBIdient, you have to wonder if that Fulani man who voted for him is really a native of the country.
A spokesperson for Biafra interests, Obi. This eliminates a number of possible candidates for president of Nigeria from our ballots. He referred to the man as a “tribal bigot.”
According to Alhassan, Obi “destroyed the enterprises of northerners and chased many Hausa and Fulani people from entering Anambra” while he was governor of Anambra State.
The Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa is a Fulani organization that criticized Alhasan’s statement.
In a statement released on Monday, the Fulbe professional group said that while it respected the organization’s right to free speech, it would “remind them that they don’t have the right to speak for the entire Fulani in Nigeria, especially when they have not lived up to expectations.” The statement was signed by Prof. Mohammed Gidado, the organization’s National President, and Hajiya Mairo Modibo, the organization’s National Secretary.
COFPIA issued a statement to this effect, saying that Fulbe people across Nigeria “would not be bind[ed] by that politically sponsored proclamation of Miyetti Allah.”
“Our brother Alhajji Hassan Saleh, National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the most controversial Fulani group in Nigeria, has been credited with a sectional, unpatriotic, ungodly, and senseless statement that, without a doubt, is responsible for the bad name the Fulani nation has been branded with in Nigeria.
“No longer will the Fulbe people of Nigeria be bound by the words of Miyetti Allah, which was issued as part of a political campaign.
The Fulani people have matured as a culture and are no longer easily used for financial gain or religious purposes. In 2023, we will educate our countrymen so that they may make informed decisions based on candidates’ actual abilities. If a candidate doesn’t have anything to give, we won’t support them. We’ve moved past simple tribalism and bigotry.
Our people have been held captive by poverty and severe hunger for far too long; we will elect a president who will end these conditions. No matter who is running for president, we will vote for someone who will battle insecurity with all their might and an open mind.
Miyette Allah, they added, “should use their campaign to rehabilitate the horrible image they have established for Fulani people in Nigeria rather than casting aspersions on Peter Obi, who has showed capacity to rescue Nigeria from the current hopelessness.”
It is unfair for our people to continue branding Peter Obi as a tribal bigot and that he doesn’t like the North, the group stated, adding that they have not endorsed Peter Obi or any presidential contender in the upcoming general elections.
Based on the evidence at hand, COFPIA concluded that Peter Obi is a committed patriot who supports Nigeria’s integrity as a unified country.
Therefore, we urge our Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore brothers to speak just for themselves and not try to mislead Nigerians by claiming to represent all Fulani people.
They have “reduced themselves to tribal bigots that has no values for other tribes and faiths,” the group claims, and thus “without the moral, spiritual, and religious rights to speak for the entire Fulani people in Nigeria.”
COFPIA claims that Nigerians would be voting for the most qualified candidate in the upcoming election and will not be swayed from their decision by any “selfish motive and blackmail.”
To prevent “our people from being duped by Miyetti Allah, Kautal Hore and its like,” the statement promised to “mobilize and enlighten Fulani young and old to every ruga’s and town.”
