Disturbed by decay of values associated with Fulani youths leading to drug abuse, and involvement in violent crimes, the 334 local Fulani leaders also known as Ardo’s in Adamawa, have unveiled a new socio-cultural group, known as Fulbe United for Peace and Development Association of Nigeria aimed at addressing the social and development challenges facing Fulani communities.
Chairman of the socio-cultural group, Ardo Modibbo Aliyu Liman Bobboi in a chat with our correspondent in Yola, noted that being the most closest to the masses, the Ardo’s are in the best position to proffer solution to the myriads of challenges facing the Fulani race.
“There are averagely 20 Ardo’s in every local government of Adamawa State and there are 334 Ardo’s in the state.
“The Ardo’s are the closest leaders to the Fulani people. We interact with all the people and know every individual in our domains.
“We felt that if we come together as a group, we can address all the social and developmental challenges facing our communities because we have rules and regulations and will ensure that they apply appropriately to every member who misbehaves,” he said.
When asked whether the group is not another duplication considering that there are a number of Fulani socio-cultural groups like Miyetti Allah, Tabital Pulaaku and others, Bobboi said there is no cause for alarm as they are not going to work at cross purposes with those groups but rather complement each other.
” The cardinal objective of this association is to bring unity among Fulani people all over the state, ensure peaceful coexistence and pursue developmental goals.
“Being very close to the people, we are best suited to carry such onerous responsibilities of restoring back the lost glory of the Fulani race. We want to ensure that sanity, peace and development prevail in our communities and we will be happy to work with institutions that promote our goals and vision,” he added.
He noted that as leaders with genuine concern over the consistent deterioration of the Fulani values and the bad name some deviants are causing the Fulani race, it became expedient to take a proactive measure to stem the drift of the Fulani race hence taking the gauntlet.
“We felt that you cannot be doing the same thing and expect a different result. This time we shall engage our youths directly, and we shall not spare anyone involved in any untoward behavior.
” We will work with all parents to ensure that even the way their children dress conform with our values, and we will ensure that our youth are engaged in useful ventures and associate with people of sound conduct and character.
“We would reach out to governments to ensure that our communities also enjoy the presence of government because the absence of social amenities like water and the total depletion of cattle routes are behind some of the clashes we witness.
” Be that as it may, we shall henceforth not condone any misbehavior by any Fulani youth. We are saying no and will never condone any anti-social proclivity by any Fulani youth,” he added.
On how they plan to contain the excesses of foreign itinerant Fulani herdsmen who are mostly fingered behind violent crimes, Bobboi said they would always enter into a pact with any itinerant herder before they allow him to settle in their domains during transit.
“One good thing about those itinerant herders is that they don’t stay in the bush while on transit. They always associate and identity with Fulani communities. This will give us the latitude to have substantial information about them.
” We shall enter a pact with such people on good conduct and will ensure that they live within acceptable norms. We shall trace them to wherever they may go if we found out that they committed any infraction even after they leave,” he said.
