Tag: Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore

Why Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore’s President Must Be Arrested – Ortom

Governor Samuel Ortom

 

 

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has explained why he called for the arrest of the President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.

The governor who received Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka at the Government House in Makurdi on Tuesday revealed that he would file a formal complaint to the security agencies.

He vowed to petition the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Presidency to ensure that the association’s president was arrested for allegedly threatening states like Benue for rejecting the establishment of the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA).

“He should be arrested because there is no hate speech more than the one he was saying and was given wide publicity that governors who do not embrace cattle colony and RUGA will not know peace,” the governor alleged.

He added, “We have seen it before and why should we allow a person like this to go scot-free in impunity? If we want to live as a country, this should not be allowed … this is the way to go.”

READ ALSO: Soyinka Calls For ‘Holistic Approach’ To Nigeria’s Security Challenges

 

More Problems In Benue?

In the heat of the crisis between herdsmen and farmers that claimed many lives and forced hundreds of residents from their houses in Benue, the state government had taken some measures to address the situation.

One of the major steps taken by the government was the passage and assent to the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law by the Benue State House of Assembly and Governor Ortom respectively in November 2017.

Although the governor noted that the state government was open to ideas and recommendations on how to tackle the crisis between farmers and herders in the state, he insisted that the RUGA scheme was not an option to consider.

He stated, “I have challenged Nigerians, the Federal Government, state, and all Nigerians that if the prohibition of open grazing in Benue State law of 2017; if you have any order policy that can restore peace for farmers and herdsmen in this country or in Benue State, please bring it on the table.”

“We are willing to go back to our people and say there is a better option, but the option cannot be RUGA, cattle colony, and open grazing.

“It cannot be those ones; they are not there because they will not solve the problem, they will create more problems.”

Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Apologises For Benue Killings

The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, watches as the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Mr Saleh Alhassan, shakes hands with Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State at an event in Makurdi on October 26, 2019.

 

 

The Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has apologised to Governor Samuel Ortom for the herdsmen attacks and killings in Benue State.

Mr Saleh Alhassan who is the national secretary of the association tendered the apology at an event attended by both men on Saturday in Makurdi, the state capital.

He said Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore regretted the killings in Benue and pledged to ensure peaceful coexistence between herdsmen and farmers in the state going forward.

READ ALSO: Military Action Alone Won’t Tackle Insurgency, UN Tells Nigerian Govt

The group’s secretary described Governor Ortom as a peace-loving man who stood firmly for the emancipation of his people.

He gave assurance that members of the association would embrace the peace initiatives put forward by the governor.

In his response, Governor Ortom noted the enactment of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law by the state government.

He explained that the government’s action was aimed at ending the killing of innocent people and to encourage ranching as the global best practice of animal husbandry.

The governor stated that any person or ethnic group wishing to rear livestock in the state was free to come, acquire land, and ranch, according to provisions of the Ranching Law of the state.

He added that the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law protect has both farmers and livestock owners, stressing that the law was not targeted at promoting crisis of any kind.

The peace initiative was brokered by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, at a wedding reception in the state capital.

Earlier, the airline boss emphasised the need for peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders in Benue.

He said this informed his decision to personally bring Mr Saleh to broker peace between Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and the people of the state.

Southern Peoples Forum Leader Accuses Miyetti Allah Of Terrorism

The Publicity Secretary of Southern Peoples forum, Isuwa Dogo, has accused leaders of Miyetti Allah of engaging in and sponsoring terrorist activities.

Dogo made these claims on Monday, on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily. According to him, local Fulani residents are not responsible for the incessant killings across the country but the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore are the ones responsible for sponsoring killings and attacks.

“Those who are doing the killings are terrorists. They are not the local Fulani that lives among us and inter-marry. They are after us from village to village, killing people.

“The local Fulani man does not know of the existence of Miyetti Allah and they are not part of it. All these people that call themselves Miyetti Allah are simply cattle traders and terrorists. They are the ones sponsoring terrorism and they are not different from Boko Haram,” he said.

The Southern Peoples Forum Leader also claimed that there is no conflict between farmers and herders hence his disapproval of the tag farmers-herders clash.

“There is no farmers-herders clash. They burn the villages, kill the people, destroy everything, is there a clash there? With sophisticated weapons, people are eliminated. This is a planned genocide of the Middle Belt people.”

The Secretary-General of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Usman Baba-Ngelzerma in response, however, debunked Dogo’s claims noting that the group is not and will never support senseless killings. ‘We are not criminals,’ Baba-Ngelzerma stressed.

Miyetti Allah Blasts Fulani Lawmakers Over Failure To ‘Defend Their People’

 

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has taken a swipe at Fulani lawmakers in the National Assembly for failing to protect the interest of the people from their tribe.

Secretary-General of the socio-cultural group, Mr Saleh Al-Hassan, faulted the legislators on Friday in a telephone interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

“Our elites have failed to come out and represent,” he said from Kaduna. “Our National Assembly members that are of Fulani background are there; they are just there collecting money.

“They can’t defend their people, they don’t want to talk and say the truth. No ethnic group will wake up one and expel the pastoralists from Nigeria because they are Nigerians,” Saleh added.

We Warned Ortom Not To Proscribe Open Grazing ‘Overnight’ – Miyetti Allah
(File) Secretary-General of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Mr Saleh Al-Hassan, speaks about the herdsmen-farmers crisis in Benue State on Sunrise Daily on January 11, 2018.

 

He maintained that the herdsmen-farmers crisis which has claimed hundreds of lives, according to Amnesty International, is politically motivated.

The secretary-general cited as examples, the latest of such in which at least 100 persons were killed in Plateau State and the previous incidents in Benue and other states.

He condoled with families of deceased in the Plateau killings “whether herds or farmers”, distancing the attack from members of his group.

Saleh insisted that the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore is a peaceful organisation, and there is no member of the group who carries arms.

On the Plateau killings, he claimed the crisis was being sponsored by some politicians to divert attention from the corruption offences they were charged with.

While the allegations have not been proven to be true, the secretary-general alleged further that the security agencies “are aware but the question is are they capable of stopping the conflict?”

“We have armed militia that will block highways, kill Fulani people, roast hundreds of cattle in a terrain like Plateau State that is not like a rainforest or where you have trees. These things are purely political like the anti-grazing law in Benue,” he claimed.

Asked about the way forward, Saleh said, “What is needed now is for the security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of this crisis and their sponsors and let us stop the pretence.”

“The agenda to exterminate the Fulani people on the Plateau is not going to work because they are not aliens; they are indigenous in that place,” he insisted.

2015: Miyetti Allah Endorses Jonathan As Presidential Candidate

NIGERIA-VOTE-JONATHANMembers of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural association, have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as their sole candidate for the March 28 presidential elections.

The President got the endorsement during an audience with the leaders and members of the association at the Presidential Villa.

President Jonathan reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to finding a permanent solution to the frequent clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country.

The association also decorated President Jonathan as life patron of the Fulani socio-cultural association.

The president thanked the association for the honour and commended the Fulani’s for their significant contributions to the development of the country.

He described Fulani pastoralists as a major economic group in Nigeria and applauded their substantial contributions to food security in the country.

The president said as part of its agenda for positive transformation in the agricultural sector, his administration was working towards developing cattle rearing in Nigeria to a level where the nation can earn higher revenues from meat exports.

The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Mr Abdullah Bello Bodejo, thanked the president for receiving members of the association.

Herdsmen/Farmers’ Clashes: Police Adopt Multi-Faceted Conflict Resolution Strategies

IGPThe Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, on Thursday, March 27, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, held an interactive meeting with the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (Umbrella body for Fulani Herdsmen).

The meeting which comes as the first of a series of meetings already planned by the Force was part of deliberate and elaborate efforts by the Nigeria Police Force to bring to an end the lingering crisis between herdsmen and farmers in some parts of the country,

According to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, the essence of the meeting was to find an alternative dispute resolution mechanism geared towards finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis.

The IGP called on the leadership of Miyetti Allah and other relevant stakeholders to cooperate with the Police in this regards. The IGP further reiterated that in addition to the ongoing crisis management measures and the core law enforcement strategies already being implemented by the Force in the affected areas, there was need for the Police to meet with stakeholders and parties to the conflict so as to bring an end to the crisis.

On their part, the Miyetti Allah delegates assured the IGP of their readiness to cooperate with the Government and the Police in finding lasting solutions to the problem.

Consequently, a committee was constituted which has the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations as Chairman. Other members of the committee include: the President, the Secretary-General and three other members from Miyetti Allah, as well as the President and the executives of Farmers’ Associations and community leaders of the affected areas.

The IGP charged the committee to visit all the affected states to liaise with Police Commands and to consult with the Governors and stakeholders in the affected states with the view to entrenching peaceful co-existence.

Also in attendance at the meeting were the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police in charge of Training and Operations Departments respectively, Principal Staff Officer to the IGP and other Senior Police Officers.