Herdsmen Only Kill In Self-Defence – Miyetti Allah

Fulani GunmanThe Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian, MACBAN, has said Fulani herdsmen, who have recently been accused of being behind mass killings in various communities in the country, kill their victims in self-defence.
The leader of a delegation of MACBAN to the Defence Headquarters on Wednesday, Senator Dagiri Alkali, said the Fulani moved into new territories in the country because they had been forced out of their territories in the North.
Alkali claimed that the Boko Haram insurgents attacked herdsmen in the North-East and other parts of the country and stole millions of cows from the breeders.
He added that the Fulani were also victims of the activities of cattle rustlers in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue and parts of Kogi states with millions of cows taken away from them.
The association wondered why people had not taken a look at the factors that had driven the Fulani to different parts of the country, asking where Nigerians expected the herdsmen to keep the over 20 million cows in the country.
He added, “When the reserves and forest were gazetted and reserved for cattle breeders, this incident was not there; but the increase in population has now wiped out the entire grazing reserves in this country; 400 and something of them all wiped out. And you have a population of about 20 million cows. Where do you keep them? And every one of us likes to eat meat.
“This is a venture that over 20 million people are engaged in. And nobody cares to know what the causes of this problem are. Presently, you know the case of Boko Haram. They attacked and decapitated the population of Fulani in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and some parts of Taraba.
“The cattle rustlers have displaced the Fulani in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue and in some parts of Kogi. Millions of cattle have been taken from these herdsmen. So when somebody says a Fulani man killed somebody, I wonder why? How? It’s only a poor man that fights.
“But you, as the military people, you know self-defence is an art. In the military, if you are attacked you have to defend yourself. You have been squeezed; you have to find a way to survive”.
The leader of the MACBAN delegation said when the Fulani were killed in the bush, it was not reported in the media, admitting that it was however, not enough for anybody to kill innocent persons.