The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Mangu Local Government Area, Plateau State, has exonerated herdsmen from the January 23 attack in the area that left at least 30 people dead.

There were allegations that MACBAN in connivance with security agencies was involved in the attack.

But speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief three days after the attack, MACBAN Chairman in Mangu, Yahaya Bello, said the accusations were false.

He explained herdsmen were not involved, highlighting losses suffered by pastoralists within the community.

“We are not responsible, we are the people of Mangu, we are not militias. Many of our people were killed,” he stated.

“I have to tell you the story of Mangu. Mangu is a large local government that contains about 11 districts, about nine districts with no Fulani man in them. We have been pushed to one district. They are saying that we are militias while we are not.”

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‘That is Not True’

Bello also rejected claims of MACBAN’s involvement in land-grabbing.

“No, that is not true. The issue of land grabbing, Fulani are just there to rear our cows, we have never done that,” he added.

When asked if security agencies arrested herdsmen in connection with the attack, Bello said none of his members was nabbed.

He also denied claims that any of their members had been apprehended with weapons related to the attacks.

“Nothing of that nature; nobody has ever been arrested from our side with ammunition. I have not seen it,” he added.

The fresh attack happened despite a curfew imposed by the state government.

Farmer-herder attacks and communal conflicts are rife in central Nigeria, an ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland known as the ‘Middle Belt’ where a circle of violence has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.

It is the latest in the wake of attacks in the North-Central state and comes a few weeks after a Christmas Day attack in the area which left at least 140 people dead. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Jan. 23 but later relaxed.