Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, one of the umbrella bodies of herdsmen in Nigeria, on Friday accused policemen along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway of “arbitrary arrests of Fulani herders and criminal extortion”.
Saleh Alhassan, the National Secretary of the group, made this allegation in a press statement.
According to him, sinless Fulani herders grazing cattle in villages along the highway are randomly picked and forced to part with huge money for ‘bail’.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that presently, the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway is infamously one of the volatile highways in the country notorious for kidnapping, banditry and other heinous crimes.
“Suspects are forced to either pay for their freedom or they are tortured. The Police personnel are going about abducting our herders, branding them kidnappers or robbers and forcing them to pay bail under torture.
“Our herders, who are undertaking their lawful ventures, have been victims of this arbitrary arrest and demand for bail.
“Many relatives of these herders have forcefully cough out N200,000 to 1.5 million naira to bail out their subjects from the hands of these police officers.
“This is unacceptable, and we demand immediate action.
“While we have already informed the police headquarters of these happenings, we felt it necessary to also let the world know this, in view of the growing hatred, stereotyping and prejudices against our herders and Fulani ethnic group in the country,” Miyetti Allah’s statement read in part.
This press tried to get comments from Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, but he did not respond to a message as of the time of publishing this report.
