Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has said armed Fulani herders who attack the state are Malians and not Nigerians.

Alia said the Hausa and Fulani these armed herders speak are distinct from what is obtainable in Nigeria.

Benue State has experienced series of attacks from armed herders which has led to the death of several people.

These armed herders had attacked local government areas like Otukpo, Ado, Logo, and others.

However, the governor said these attackers who wield AK-47s don’t look like the indigenous Fulanis in Nigeria.

Alia disclosed this while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.

According to Alia: “We know Nigerians—by our ethnicities, we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man—we know them.

“Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding them with sticks.

“But these folks, the attackers, are coming in fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They do not bear the Nigerian look. They don’t speak like we do. Even the Hausa they speak is one sort of Hausa.

“It’s not the normal Hausa we Nigerians speak. So it is with the Fulani they speak. There is a trend in the language they speak, and some of our people who understand what they speak give it names.

“They say they are Malians and different from our people. But they are not Nigerians—believe it.”

Nigeria’s currency, the naira, depreciated against the dollar at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets upon the resumption of work after Easter holidays.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s data showed that it weakened to N1,602.63 per dollar on Tuesday from N1,599.93 exchanged on Thursday last week.

This means that it declined by N2.7 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis.

Similarly, the naira fell to N1620 per dollaron Tuesday from N1610 at the weekend.

The N1,620 dollar exchange rate at the black market is the same rate recorded on Thursday before the Easter holidays.

The development comes following the sustained slump in the dollar amid threats to US Federal Reserve independence and the tariff war.

Nigeria’s Peter Cardinal Okpaleke and other 17 Africans are among the 135 cardinals eligible to elect the next new Pope.

Nevertheless there are 252 cardinals, but only 135 cardinals have voting status and are eligible to vote for the next Pope when the conclave begins in the coming days.

Europe has 53 cardinals of voting status, followed by Asia (23), Africa (18), South America (17) and North America (16).

Central America and Oceania have four each and it is the lowest number of electors at the forthcoming conclave.

The Cardinal electors of African origin are John Njue (Kenya), Dieudonne Nzapalainga (Central African Republic), Peter Okpaleke (Nigeria), Nakellentuba Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso), Protase Rugambwa (Tanzania), Robert Sarah (Guinea), Berhaneyesus Souraphiel (Ethiopia).

Others are Desire Tsarahazana (Madagascar), Peter Turkson (Ghana), Jean-Paul Vesco (Algeria), Cristobal Romero (Morocco), Stephen Mulla (South-Sudan), Fridolin Besungu (DR Congo), Ignace Dogbo (Ivory Coast), Stephen Brislin (South Africa), Arlindo Furtado (Cape Verde), Antoine Kambanda (Rwanda) and Jean-Pierre Kutwa (Ivory Coast).

Meanwhile, 108 of the electors were appointed by Pope Francis, 22 by his predecessor, Pope Benedict and five by Pope John Paul II.

Ekwutosblog recalls that Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at his residence in Rome at the age of 88.

His funeral is scheduled for Saturday as global leaders prepare to attend.