National President, Miyetti Allah
Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, Alhaji Mohammadu Kiruwa has
disclosed that the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has given
them two months to fish out criminal elements among herdsmen in the country.
The National Secretary of MACBAN,
Alhaji Baba Othman Ngelzarma, made the disclosure during a stakeholders’
meeting between the farmers and herdsmen held at the instance of the Edo State
Police Command to foster peace in the various communities in the state.
He said they were duty bound to
proffer lasting solutions to the incessant herdsmen attacks on innocent
citizens in the country.
“The Sultan of Sokoto has given
us two months mandate to fish out criminal elements among the herdsmen in the
country. If those things that have been alleged have been done by the herdsmen
we must do all we could to fish out the criminal elements.
“He has given us the mandate and,
in two months time, he wants us to give him results,” Kiruwa said.
Kiruwa said they were in Edo
State to sensitize herdsmen on how to avoid conflict and live peacefully with
the people of their host communities.
“We are here in Edo State for the
past three days. We came in respect of what is happening across the states.
“We have talked with our members
and have also heard from them. We also taught them how we want them to behave
because they are at the receiving end when trouble starts.
“Because they move with all they
have in this whole world, which are the cows, children and their families.
“We are here, mediating between
the farmers and the herders in Odighi and the rest. I am sure that from now on,
things will begin to change.
“This is just the beginning and
we are going to sustain it.
“We are here for peace, we are
here to condemn the atrocities in whatever forms by whoever. We are not a
terrorist group, but we are peace-loving association and that is why we have
his eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, as the Chairman, Board of Trustees, of
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeder Association, and we have other members like the
Emir of Kano.
“We have the Lamido of Adamawa
and the Emir of Katsina. These are other members of trustees of the
association.
“This association has been in
existence for over 30 years. So, it is a peaceful association. We do not
condone violence and we condemn violence by whoever, either by a cattle herder
or a farmer. We are not a party to violence.
“We see violence being perpetrated
by criminals wherever they take place because, what a lot of people do not
know, our members are at the receiving end of most of these crises.
“Today, it is on record that our
members have lost about two million cows as a result of cattle rustling. Our
members also suffer from the hands of the kidnappers. Our members were not
spared by the farmers and cattle breeders dispute.
“Though we know we have our
faults there because of the relationship between the tongue and teeth, so, such
a thing is bound to happen.
“They have the habit of making
destruction in farmlands, and these are things that we always condemn; more
especially we are not a party and we do not like night grazing. We always kick
against night grazing because, of all these ones that is why we have a lot of
problems.
“And at times, allowing minors to
go on grazing, that is what is causing most of the problems and, above all,
when all these are not there when the relationship is good, they settle in the
farms, they see each other, shake hands and continue to live; but today,
because of so many things, politicians have made this crisis a fertile ground.
“They take advantage of the
crisis for their political gain. They give the herdsmen all sorts of names to
the extent that today, whatever communities in Nigeria, if they sight herdsmen
come close, they start saying ‘trouble is coming close to us’,” he complained.
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