Leave Southern Nigeria, Miyetti Allah warns herdsmen

The leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has asked all Fulani herdsmen to leave the Southern states following the recent ban placed on open grazing by the state governors.

In a letter signed by the Chairman of the Bauchi State chapter of MACBAN, Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed, the body urged herders operating in the south to urgently leave the region as “the governors of the 17 states that make up the region are bent on frustrating their business as well as turn the people against herders.”

The letter in part reads:

“This is a simple calculation. We are heading for secession. The rulers are no longer interested in the people. If some people are banned from open grazing, there is nothing more. Fulani people should move out from there. It is very simple.

Must we transport the cattle there? I have said it before. We have an option of breeding our cattle here (North). We are peace lovers. Let them come and buy from us. It is some people’s fault.

The Southern governors can do that. There is no problem, let them do what they want. If the Northern governors feel like, they can ban open grazing. We don’t care.

The President is there as a figurehead. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He is not controlling anybody. In our country now, everyone does what he feels like. The country is already moving apart. Where is the central government, if some governors can meet and take decisions that are against the Constitution.

We also call on the President to step aside or for Nigerians to put heads together and elect a credible president in 2023, a leader with focus and competence. Nigeria should get a leader with a good example, who is ready to sacrifice his life for his subjects.”

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria sometimes called MACBAN is the socio-cultural umbrella body of cattle breeders in Nigeria.

The organization was founded in the early 1970s with headquarters in Kaduna. It became operational in 1979 and has served to protect and promote the interest and rights of cattle breeders in Nigeria since then.