Benue State Government has reacted to the claim by Professor Umar
Labdo Muhammad of the Faculty of Humanities, Northwest University, Kano
that Benue State belongs to the Fulani by conquest.
The Professor, in a Facebook post that went viral on Thursday, had also insisted that no one can expel the Fulani from Benue.
The
University Don predicated his claim on the fact that half of Benue
State is part of the Bauchi Emirate and also half of the Adamawa
Emirate.
He said Benue is “part and parcel of Sokoto Caliphate”
as such nobody has the right to expel Fulani from the state, adding that
Fulani are the largest single nation in the African continent and they
have “remained unbeatable throughout their history.”
Chief Press
Secretary to the Benue State Governor, Terve Akase, demanded that the
professor provide evidence to back up his claims.
According to
Akase, it was unprofessional for the Don to come up with such claims
without properly acquainting himself with enough points to back up his
claims.
Akase said he (Prof. Muhammad) should be able show proofs
of ownership of Benue by Fulani in books and also tell the people what
year Benue was conquered.
He said, “Did he [Prof. Muhammad] provide evidence to his claim?
“Which
of the books written by great men proves what he said? He should also
be able to tell us in what century the Fulani conquered Benue.
“Muhammad
should be able to back up his claims that Benue is Fulani’s conquered
land because you don’t just come up with such claims.”