Even the Second Lady is a Fulani; stop tagging them as violent people – Security Expert

Managing Director of Security Warehouse Limited, Adam Bonaa has cautioned against the labelling of Fulanis as aggressive people.

According to him, since the constitution only defines who a citizen is but does not give a description of how a Ghanaian should look, the public should refrain from making such classifications.

“The 1992 constitution actually defines who a citizen is so it is not up to me and you to look up to this person and say the face looks Caucasian or the face looks Asian or the face looks something and therefore that person is not a Ghanaian, and so tagging people by the way they look is an affront to their fundamental human rights. It is only the constitution that defines it,” he reiterated.

He said referring to all Fulanis as violent, just by how they look, is an affront to their fundamental human rights, adding that the Second Lady, Samira Bawumia, is also a descendant of the tribe which makes the overall assumption baseless.

In a daring statement during an interview with www.ghanaweb.com, Adam Bonaa said: “The Second Lady is a Fulani…But I’m sure you cannot go to the second lady and begin to probably refer to her in the way we refer to other nomadic herdsmen who look like Fulani people.”

The Fulani menace has led to the loss of many lives, prevented children from going to school in some communities, destruction of farm produce while residents of some of the communities have had to vacate their communities due to conflicts between the people and the Fulani herdsmen which had affected socio-economic development in the areas.

Mr Bonaa advised that rather than generalizing the menace and attributing it to nomadic herdsmen who look like Fulanis, it is best to take the bull by the horn and focus on ensuring that the menace comes to an end.

The agitated Security Analyst added, “…so I would say that let's stop tagging people. If we can stop the tagging and deal with criminality to do with herdsmen, then we will be dealing with the issue of this nomadic herdsmen with the crop farmers.”

There are nomadic herdsmen scattered in all parts of the country but they are mostly concentrated in Agogo, Begoro and parts of the Volta and Greater Accra regions.

Government has, therefore, introduced ‘Operation Cow Leg,’ made up of a combined team of police and military personnel, to flush out the herdsmen.