Miyetti Allah is in Charge of Nigeria, Benue Alleges

Calls for immediate arrest of members

George Okoh in Makurdi

The Benue State Government has alleged that the Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has taken the full charge of Nigeria, and it’s dictating how the country should be governed.

The state also demanded the immediate arrest of members of the association.

According to the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Orientation, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi, while addressing a press conference at the Government House in Makurdi, the state came to the conclusion when “we listened in disbelief how Miyetti Allah openly challenged constituted authorities across various states in Nigeria, demanding, not just the repeal of laws constitutionally enacted by the Houses of Assembly and assented to, but making derogatory statements against state governors who are duly elected by their various states.”

She said on September 5, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Alhassan, addressed journalists where he made spurious demands, among other things.

The commissioner added that the association also asked the National Assembly to stop the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017 legally enacted by the Benue State House of Assembly and assented to by the state governor.

According to her, “By the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, states are empowered through their Houses of Assembly to make laws for the good governance of the people. And this is exactly what we did with the ban on open grazing. It is to stop the incessant conflict between farmers and pastoralists. In fact, the law is a win-win for both farmers and herders.

“It is our belief that the loud script on land grabbing for various programmes by the federal government like RUGA, Cattle Colony, Water Resources Bill, Grazing Routes, Grazing Reserves and now to the proposed 108 farming centres across the senatorial zones in the country as well as the call for the review of the Land Use Act, are programmes aimed at colonizing the country in favour of Fulani herders.

“For us in Benue State, it is unacceptable. We will not be part of that programme. If the federal government has any form of intervention in the agriculture sector, this could be done through the states.”

“But to come in disguise with all of these suspicious programmes, that will not be accepted by us in the state. In Benue State, once you want to go into the business of rearing cattle, you must ranch because we don’t have room for open grazing or grazing routes. We will never accept that.”

Addingi faulted Garba Shehu’s claim that the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, insulted the president. “This is lie! Governor Ortom as a Christian who will never insult anyone let alone his elders and the president of Nigeria. The governor dutifully prays for the president all the times. That is why in 2017, when President Buhari was hospitalised in London, the Benue State Government in collaboration with the state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) organised a three-day fasting and prayers for the president to get well. The governor also personally visited the president on his sick bed. Thank God our prayers were heard and the president recovered fully,” the commissioner said.

Addingi added: “What Governor Ortom does is to speak the truth because he is patriotic, and loves this country. The governor, who is a firm believer of the Bible, knows that the truth will set this country free.

“Now we ask: why is it difficult to implement the recommendations of the National Livestock Transformation Plan despite its approval by the National Economic Council (NEC)? The council took time to find out the lasting solution to this problem, yet, we watch how key actors in this country are playing politics with the lives of the people to soothe their interests.

“Finally, it is our firm belief that the federal government has the capacity to end this insecurity in the country. The president should therefore come out and decisively arrest the leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who are instigating violence by their utterances and outright disregard to constituted authorities.

“The federal government should also show capacity to end banditry in the country to show that they are not complicit in dealing with the security situation in the country.”