Why We Worship Cows - Fulani Herdsmen

Coordinator of the Benue State chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), an umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigerian, Alhaji Garius Gololo, has revealed why his people worship cows.

Speaking in an interview with Saturday Sun, Gololo said apart from God, herdsmen also worship whatever is their major source of livelihood.

“Why won’t you worship what you are gaining from? They worship God, but they depend on their cow. If you want to marry, it’s from that cow; if you are going to the hospital, it’s from that cow, if you want to eat, it’s from that cow.

“So, for people to say Fulani worship cows, its clear; they must, because it’s from it they eke a living. Fulani does not need road, they don’t need electricity, and they don’t need a big house. They live with the cow. But now in Nigeria, not only Benue, people are against herdsmen.

“In a place like Zamfara, it’s not herdsmen; it is criminals versus criminals. Recently, I was in Zamfara when they fought. There are no more herdsmen in Zamfara because they all ran away with the cattle as a result of incessant attacks after the return of a notorious criminal and members of his gang who terrorized them.

“But whenever anything happens, they say it’s Fulani. The point is that they are against the Federal Government, not the ordinary Fulani. Because the president is a Fulani and most Nigerians are against him, anything that happens, they say it’s Fulani.”
Gololo said.

Asked why they kill anybody who attacks their cows, Gololo said, “It is not easy for any human being to kill. Nobody wants to kill a fellow human being. But it is not even the Fulani that are involved in some of the killings they are accusing them.

“If what happened recently in Gboko was the other way round, the whole world would have heard it. I’m yet to see the human rights people; nobody is talking about it because Fulani do not have anybody to speak for them.”