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, Sun News has reported.
“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 said.
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.”