A Civil Rights Advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the Nigerian government to perish the idea of setting up a Fulani radio station with public fund for herdsmen, saying that it breaches several sections of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code and section 42 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
HURIWA, said if the central government in clear breach of all extant laws goes ahead with the Fulani Radio as a public broadcaster then it should be ready to face an avalanche of litigations from Nigerians of diverse Ethno-religious configurations who would be short-changed should the commonwealth of Nigerians be deployed to the exclusive interest of a section of Nigeria.
The Rights group through a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf said the idea of setting up an exclusive publicly funded radio station to be broadcasted in one language is both divisive and criminal just as it may be misconstrued as a weapon to mobilise armed Fulani herdsmen to intensify their murderous and blood Cuddling rampage all across Nigeria.
The group reminds the Nigerian government that the genocides that tore apart Rwanda prior to the coming of President Paul Kegame were aggravated by Ethnic oriented broadcasting institutions similar to what the minister of Education Adamu Adamu categorically announced.
HURIWA also dismissed as double speak the belated explanation by the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission Alhaji Modibbo Kawu who it saids sought to tie a wool of confusion on Nigerians by denying that the Radio Licence issued which the minister of Education—the Fulani born Alhaji Adamu Adamu confirmed to be a Fulani Radio for herdsmen is not exclusively for herdsmen but for farmers and hunters.
HURIWA wondered why the NBC official clearly spoke from both sides of his mouth when the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu categorically confirmed to Nigerians that the Radio Licence was obtained for the purposes of broadcasting in Fulani and for the herdsmen to stop the attacks targeting farming communities.
It stated emphatically that the idea of a Fulani radio station with public fund will never be accepted by Nigerians going by the obvious constitutional crime that such an action has engendered which offends section 42 of the Constitution Of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The group, said the decision of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to obtain a licence and plan to deploy public fund to commence the operations of the radio for the purposes of mobilising Fulani herdsmen violates several sections of the National Broadcasting code which are derived from the extant National Broadcasting Commission’s Act including the sections that prohibits the deployment of public fund to service the interests of only a few sections of Nigeria.
HURIWA therefore asked President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to jettison the highly divisive idea of deploying public resources to set up a radio station for the purposes of broadcasting to Fulani herdsmen just as the Rights group wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration does not trust either the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria or Voice of Nigeria to deliver a programme that would competently educate Nigerians of Fulani extractions and their neighbours on the virtues of good neighbourliness instead of duplicating the institution of public broadcasting which in this specific case is not only controversial but absolutely illegal and unconstitutional.
It further stated that the only reason for side stepping the established public broadcasting institutions such as Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria; Voice of Nigeria or the Nigerian Television may not be far from the allegation that the current administration supports the Fulanization and Islamisation agenda of the marauding armed Fulani herdsmen.
HURIWA recalled that the Federal Government says it has acquired an Amplitude Modulation radio broadcast licence to reach herdsmen across various locations in the country as parts of measures to enhance nomadic education.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the radio frequency was to end the perennial farmers-herders crises across the country and added that the radio service would operate on frequency of 720KHz, and would air in Fulani language, as the government believes that the radio medium is one of the viable means to reach the herdsmen.