The Fulani community in northern Ghana are appealing to Second Lady Samira Bawumia to help them acquire a National Identification Card also known as the Ghana Card.

According to the group, the National Identification Authority officials are refusing to register them on the basis that they are aliens.

Mr Hamid Abukari, who had gone to one of the centres to vouch for his brother Umaro Abukari so he could register, said on Friday: “I came with my brother Umaro for him to register for the Ghana card. He has a birth certificate and a passport and I also have the same requirements including a Ghana Card which I acquired since December at Madina. So, I came to guarantee for him because I have been seeing it as the requirement”.

“But when I came, I was told I am a Fulani and all Fulanis are not Ghanaians and they confiscated my card and detained me and said they were calling the police to arrest me because I acquired it through illegal means”.

Commenting on the incident, the General Secretary of the Fulani Welfare Group, Alhaji Musah Yakubu Bari said: “Our Fulanis who have lived here for over seventy years, eighty years are being denied. This is a valid birth certificate, a valid passport of somebody and they're being denied the National Identification Card. I don't know why”.

Alhaji Musah called on the head of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to address the issue.

He wondered why the NIA officials are registering non-Fulanis who present the same documents but turning away Fulanis

“So, we want Ken Attafuah to come out and explain that thing to us. If only the Fulani birth certificate and the Ghanaian passport for Fulanis are invalid, he should come out and tell us”.

Alhaji Musah who spoke to Joy FM said the second lady, Samira Bawumia who is also a Fulani should speak on the matter.

“Our forefathers were here long before independence, long before the Constitution. Then they should go and collect Samira's card. If Samira [Bawumia] has a card and I'm being denied, it hurts. So, we're calling on the office of the second lady; she should come out and speak about this issue”,  he demanded.