A Fulani man who was previously abducted has shared his experience in captivity, arguing that criminal activities should not be used to stereotype all Fulani people.
Responding to a question about why he was not involved in kidnapping despite being Fulani, the man said he was focused on his business.
“I’m Fulani and I cannot kidnap people because I have a business I’m running,” he said.
According to him, the six-man gang that abducted him was not made up of Nigerian Fulani but individuals he claimed were from Chad. He alleged that the kidnappers operated under the direction of a Hausa-speaking man and later carried out another abduction in Abeokuta before disappearing.
The former hostage said many allegations against Fulani communities are unfair and damaging.
“Most of the Fulani here in Nigeria honestly don’t want problems. We may have issues with cattle straying into farms, but we don’t kidnap because it’s not our profession,” he said.
He added that there are different Fulani groups across Nigeria and that the kidnappers spoke a different variant of the Fulani language.
The man also claimed the kidnappers regularly communicated with their families while in captivity.
Lamenting the stigma attached to his ethnic group, he said, “If there was another name we could be called apart from Fulani, we would have changed it.”
He urged Nigerians to avoid judging entire ethnic groups based on the actions of a few criminals.
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