Miyetti Allah and the allegory of ‘smile of a vampire’

When last Tuesday a faction of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) pledged to work for the electoral victories of the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and of Darius Ishaku, governor of Taraba State, who is seeking re-election, many Nigerians were left tongue-tied.

Miyetti Allah is a group that had repeatedly and openly accepted responsibility for some killings across the country, particularly in Benue State.

Governor Ishaku has been very vehement in his condemnation of the bloody campaign of the herdsmen and the seeming sealed lips the Muhammadu Buhari administration had maintained. His observations had also pitted him against members of the group and his state has not been spared in the brutal attacks.

The governor had wondered why the Federal Government was justifying the killings going on in the country instead of finding a solution to the problem. When the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan- Ali, claimed that the anti- open grazing law in Benue had caused the massacre of innocent Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen, Ishaku fumed and screamed foul.

The PDP as the leader of the opposition parties had also condemned the wanton destruction of lives and property by the herdsmen, some of whom were said to be members of the Miyetti Allah. When the activities of the herdsmen were rampant, mere mention of Miyetti Allah evoked a feeling of hatred, revulsion and fear.

The bloody campaign of the herdsmen in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Niger, Edo, Delta, Nassarawa, Anambra, among others, had left many innocent citizens dead, prematurely.

It was also alleged at a point that President Muhammadu Buhari was the national patron of the group, and so it was not surprising when recently the group officially adopted the President as its candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

But it was surprising to many Nigerians that some members of that group could not only conceive the idea of giving support to PDP candidates, but to also troop out en masse to verbalise their support.

However, many observers are still very skeptical about the sweeping endorsement as pronounced by the group. They have also likened the declared support to something akin to the “smile of a vampire.”

The inability of the Apc-led Federal Government at bringing to book those behind the massacres, despite the open acceptance of responsibility by the Miyetti Allah, had cast the Federal Government in bad light, particularly when it came out to say that it was better for people to lose their land than to lose their lives.

So, when members of the group marched to the taraba Government House Tuesday in solidarity with the sitting governor who is seeking re-election, pledging their support, it came as a thunderbolt to many people who also felt that the group must be critically watched as they may be habouring something sinister up their sleeves.