More Bloodshed On The Way-Herdsmen Association Assures Benue State Governor...

More Bloodshed On The Way – Herdsmen Association Assures
Benue State Governor

By Ameborguy
NAIJA NEWS

  Barely 48 hours after the mass burial of 73 victims of the recent
herdsmen attacks in Benue, the National Vice President of Miyetti
Allah Cattle Herders Association, Husaini Yusuf Bosso , has warned
that more blood will be shed in the state if the anti-grazing law
introduced by Governor Samuel Ortom is not completely
scrapped.



 According to him, the herders have been sorting out their issues
with farmers in the state before the Ortom government enacted
the anti-grazing law without consulting stakeholders.


“We, the association wrote a letter to him, even met him. We
told him that this law cannot work. We told them that there is an
international cattle route from Niger to Eastern Nigeria.


 He said he will not allow cattle to pass through Benue state even
if it is the cattle route. We told him that if he wants to
implement that law, he must provide a land for us to rent.


He did not provide any land for cattle herders. They have been in
that state even before colonial days and co-existing peacefully.
We advised him and he refused to listen to us.


 We are not against that law but he has to provide a land for
these people before implementing such a law. If there is no land,
there is a problem.”

He accused the land guards hired by the state government of
terrorizing the herdsmen in the name of implementing the law.
“The land guards that he introduced who we all know as the
civilian Joint Task Force, they are inflicting pain on the Fulani
herdsmen.


 They attack and seize their animals. They drag them to the
nearest police station where huge amount of money is collected
before they are granted bail. This is the cause of this problem. If
you attack a cattle herder and collect his cattle, he has no choice
but to attack.


 “The law is saying that herdsmen should not pass through the
state even if it’s a route to another area. In the past , if there
was damage by the cattle , we had ways to settle the matter.


 When you damage a farm, you have to beg the owner , if they
refuse, you pay for the damages. This has worked for us for
years till Benue State decided to implement the anti-grazing law.


 We have challenged the law in court and till court decides which
way forward, Governor Ortom will be held responsible for any
further bloodshed. ”


 He further alleged that the group as a major stakeholder was not
consulted when the law was being debated. “The Nigerian
constitution says that everyone has the freedom to do business
anywhere in Nigeria.


 Before you make a law, the state assembly is supposed to
organize a public hearing. They did not invite anyone of us. The
major stakeholders were not there. They just heard from one
side. There should be a public hearing.


 “After signing the law, he invited the Miyetti Allah group and we
told him not to implement the law. We told him to provide the
land for these people and he refused. They started attacking
them, collecting their animals, collecting money from them and
that led to the crisis.


 “The Tiv people who are crying foul, has anyone checked how
many Fulani they have killed? We don’t know who is responsible
for the recent killing and that should be left for the security
agencies to fish out the culprits.


 Luckily earlier in the week some civilian JTF were arrested with
sophisticated guns. We are ready to tell our own side of the story
so that the world will hear us.


 “The Fulani, their animals are dying. Before any reprisal attack,
they must have killed so many Fulani and their cows. We drew
the attention of the government to those killings and no step
was taken to punish those that were involved.”


  On the way forward, Bosso called on the federal government to
intervene. “We should ban the law. Benue state government has
no land that they can give out.


 The Tivs are not ready to give out their lands. Most of the
people now travel out of the state to farm. If they are serious to
implement that law, let them provide land for these people first.
If not, it will not work.”


 On alleged rising number of Fulani herdsmen who are into crime,
Bosso said that a committee has been set up to reach out to
them to stop such act.


 “Some Fulani herdsmen have lost thousands of cattle to rustlers.
Unfortunately, most of the Fulani are trained to do only one job
which is cattle rearing.


We have a committee with responsibility to reach out to them.
The fact remains that most of our people have fallen victim.
They will kidnap their family members and force them to pay
huge ransom. Most of us do not have access to journalists to tell
our story and silently they victimize them.”






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