Fulani cattle herders under their umbrella group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, is heading for a battle with Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
Their anger is linked with governor’s introduction of the Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals, EGEM, a vigilance group tasked with ‘arresting’ cows found invading and damaging farms in the state.
The association branded Fayose’s action as unscrupulous and targeted at “our members who are bonafide Nigerians.”
Spokesman for the group, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, said in a statement yesterday, “the anti-malu vigilante group shot five cows and carted away the meat but the herdsman was able to flee with the rest of his cattle.”
Continuing, MACBAN said; “As far as we know, Ekiti State is not an island of its own , but a state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria and while the governor is permitted to carry out actions geared towards protecting the interest of Ekiti State, such actions should follow the rule of law.
“We deplore this act of brigandage and call on Governor Fayose to offer an unreserved apology to MACBAN, and equally set machinery in motion with a view to compensating our members who lost five cows in this primitive adventure.
“That the brutality of the Ekiti Grazing enforcement marshals (popularly known as Anti-malu) on herdsmen is even outside the time stipulated by that law (if the law exists at all).
“The Federal Government should therefore look into the actions and activities of this committee because we cannot fold our hands while the only means of survival of our members is taken away and destroyed.
“We are hereby constrained to implore the Federal Government through its security agencies to wade into this unprovoked and primitive aggression against our members, before this incident develops into unquenchable inferno involving our members and Ekiti State government.”
In a related development, the group sympathized with the government of Kaduna State, and the people of Kaduna South over the recent attack on Godogodo community by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
