The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has called the ban on open grazing of cattle in the south of the country ‘satanic and unacceptable’.
After holding a general assembly in Lagos, some state governors in the southern regions of the country enacted the Anti-Open Grazing Bill to ban open grazing of cattle in the state and address insecurity caused by violent cattle herders.
Fulani leaders, under the aegis of Miyetti Allah, said the law is unacceptable to them, adding that it will not bring peace to the south.
“In most of the states, none of our members has been invited for a public hearing and makes inputs to the law and this law is done to affect us 100%, to affect our members 100%. We are part of the critical stakeholders that are supposed to be invited to hear our views and protect our positions and that of the government of the states where we exist,” said Usman Baba-Ngelzarma, MACBAN Secretary-General.
“Go and appraise the Benue law, has it succeeded in bringing peace to Benue? It has never succeeded in bringing peace to Benue. Rather, it has further aggravated the situation to become worse, day in day out,” he said Thursday in an interview with Arise News.
Armed Fulani herders have killed thousands of civilians, mostly Christian farmers, in Nigeria since 2015 after Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani Muslim, became the country’s president.