Miyetti Allah is in Charge of Nigeria, Benue Alleges
● Calls for immediate arrest of members
The Benue State Government has alleged that the Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has taken the full charge of Nigeria, and it’s dictating how the country should be governed.
The state also demanded the immediate arrest of members of the association.
According to the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Orientation, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi, while addressing a press conference at the Government House in Makurdi, the state came to the conclusion when “we listened in disbelief how Miyetti Allah openly challenged constituted authorities across various states in Nigeria, demanding, not just the repeal of laws constitutionally enacted by the Houses of Assembly and assented to, but making derogatory statements against state governors who are duly elected by their various states.”
She said on September 5, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Alhassan, addressed journalists where he made spurious demands, among other things.
The commissioner added that the association also asked the National Assembly to stop the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017 legally enacted by the Benue State House of Assembly and assented to by the state governor.
According to her, “By the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, states are empowered through their Houses of Assembly to make laws for the good governance of the people. And this is exactly what we did with the ban on open grazing. It is to stop the incessant conflict between farmers and pastoralists. In fact, the law is a win-win for both farmers and herders.
“It is our belief that the loud script on land grabbing for various programmes by the federal government like RUGA, Cattle Colony, Water Resources Bill, Grazing Routes, Grazing Reserves and now to the proposed 108 farming centres across the senatorial zones in the country as well as the call for the review of the Land Use Act, are programmes aimed at colonizing the country in favour of Fulani herders.
“For us in Benue State, it is unacceptable. We will not be part of that programme. If the federal government has any form of intervention in the agriculture sector, this could be done through the states.”