BEVERLY HILLS, January 15, (THEWILL) – The umbrella organisation of cattle breeders and herders, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has made a demand for the compensation for its members; immediate disarmament of militants; and justice for those who died in clashes.
THEWILL recalls that 73 people were killed in attacks in Logo and Guma local government areas of Benue State by herders and were given mass burial last Thursday while 55 people were killed in Lau Local Government in neighbouring Taraba State.
Benue and Taraba states have accused Fulani herdsmen of being behind the killings in their states as the Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom specifically accused the Miyetti Allah leadership of masterminding the killings and called for their arrest and prosecution.
But, at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, MACBAN National Secretary Baba Usman told reporters that the pastoralists had been neglected and suffered various attacks.
He claimed that 732 herders died in Mambilla Jos while 82 women and children were killed in Numan.
He also condemned the anti-open grazing law saying it was not initiated to provide a lasting solution to the herdsmen/farmers conflict and blamed the crisis on ‘draconian laws’ put in place by some state governments to deliberately chase away herdsmen.
He said the herdsmen had always been at the receiving end of condemnations while engaging in their legal occupation of pastoralism.
He said that no fewer than 1,000 of its members, including women and children, have been killed and 20,000 cattle rustled between June 2017 and January 2018 during crises in various states.
“The current situation in our opinion is fuelled by the draconian laws put in place by some state governments with singular aim of chasing our people out of the states simply for ethnic hatred,” he stated.
“The anti-open grazing law which started in Ekiti State before it was replicated in Benue, Taraba and other states, is nothing more than a symbol of intolerance and do not in any way intend to solve the farmers/herders conflict as the livestock breeders interest is neither captured in the law nor in its implementation mechanism.
“While, as a body, we are not against any law that can engender peace, create societal harmony and stability, we cannot oblige any self-centered regulation with primordial sentiments based on injustice, intolerance and infringement of people’s rights.
“It is no longer hidden that to achieve these, some state governments are sponsoring ethnic militia against our people, recruiting and arming locals to kill our people and rustle their livestock as seen recently in Benue and Taraba,” he said.
“We confirm the position of his royal highness, the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that in spite of the fact that 732 of our people were killed in Mambilla and 82 women and children killed in Numan, nobody was arrested.
“We demand the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes without further delay.
“We further state that the refutal of the Emir’s position by the Taraba State Governor is merely a continuation of his desperate act of hiding the state government’s involvement and protection of the perpetrators of these acts.
“Pay compensation to the victims of all crises to reduce their level of suffering.
“There should be, immediate disarmament of all illegally armed militias across the country in the interest of peace, security and stability.
“We condemn in totality any attempt of branding herdsmen as terrorists as is being clamoured for in certain quarters. We view this as the continuation of the hate agenda on our people and a very dangerous trend for the country.
“We call on the government to pay compensation to victims of all crises to reduce their level of suffering.
“If the government accepts that, it is left for them to establish a committee that will go and access the level of damage.
“We have a document of members that were affected by the pastoralists in the North-East but what we discovered is that none of them were captured in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) programme because they are not sedentary.”
