Abdulrahman Ahmed, a Fulani herdsman who augmented his income with kidnapping has confessed to authorities that he had no business kidnapping anyone for money.
According to Sun Online, Ahmed was captured by a Special Task Force deployed by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to checkmate the criminal activities along major highways in the North.
The Task Force has apprehended several criminals and after investigations, discoveries emerged that the criminals are actually pastoralists also known as herdsmen who abandoned their cows, for the more lucrative and diabolical criminal activities.
Upon interrogation, Ahmed said, “It is my destiny that is why I found myself in crime. My parents can be said to be very rich, because they have more than 100 cows and my wife and children lack nothing. I do not have access to physical cash, but I don’t lack anything. So it’s only Allah that can say why I am a kidnapper.”
Asides from robbery and kidnapping, the well armed herdsmen also pillage communities on their less busy days, killing, raping and maiming innocent Nigerians who have no means to defend themselves.
Sun reports, months ago, there was a clash between the herders and another tribe in Daura forest in Niger State. During the unrest, the herdsmen who were heavily armed destroyed the community. A joint task force deployed to quell the crisis was ambushed by the armed herders who succeeded in killing a mobile policeman and a National Security and Civil Defence Corps operative. They slaughtered them and made away with their rifle, which was among those recovered in the recent raid.
Security forces are too ill equipped and under manned to raid their enclaves in the forest, and the herdsmen who know the terrain better are usually able to thwart any attempt by police or other civil defence personnel to infiltrate their hideouts.
He said security operatives are finding it difficult to end kidnapping in that zone (Kaduna-Abuja), because the bush where they (kidnappers) normally camped was huge and full of heavily armed herdsmen. “The truth is that you will find it difficult to know who a kidnapper is amid those herdsmen. Everyone is armed with AK47 for security reasons. It is not about kidnapping, but protecting our cows from rustlers. That huge forest is not under the control of any security agency, we are not protected by anyone, so we formed our own security outfit. It is a case of the survival of the fittest, every son in the family is trained to handle AK47 and if there is an invasion we will protect our own. In that bush there are clashes among herdsmen and cattle rustlers that no one knows about and which people die.
“It was when everybody became armed and ready for any attack that the bad ones among us decided to come out of the bush and start kidnapping. They succeeded and pride themselves about their success. They were spending money recklessly and bought cows to expand their flock.
“In the forest, you are respected by the number of cows you own. As expected the youth got attracted to that lifestyle and gradually joined them. Every family has weapons to protect themselves, so where to get AK47 is not an issue.