Sultan is right but we all know the problem is deeper

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III, came out yesterday at the MACBAN conference in Abuja and said we should stop calling criminals Fulani herdsmen. He said criminals are just criminals, no matter their tribe. I hear him o. But the thing is, when 90% of the kidnapping and banditry news involves people from one group, it's hard for the average Nigerian to separate the bad from the good.

He said, "Call them criminals who are abducting people, engaging in kidnapping, terrorism and whatever. In every family, you have bad people and you have good people." That part is true. But the same MACBAN president Baba Othman Ngelzarma also condemned the crimes and said no ethnic group should be blamed. Fine. But where is the action? Where are the names of these criminals being handed over to security? Until we see real arrests from Fulani communities, the suspicion will not go away.

I respect the Sultan. He is a traditional ruler with influence. But Nigerians are tired of speeches. We want to see results. Be honest, if your village was attacked by bandits tomorrow and the suspects all speak Fulfulde, will you still say "don't judge the whole tribe"? Let's argue this.