Mr. Saleh Alhassan
The Secretary-General, Miyetti Kautal Hore, Mr Saleh Alhassan, has
demanded an apology from the Benue State Government for linking the
association to the attacks and killings in the state, according to
Channels Television.
Alhassan made the demand on Monday during his appearance on
Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily. Alhassan said
recent arrest of the Commander of the Benue State Livestock Guards,
Aliyu Teshaku, has vindicated the association.
“Today, they have arrested Aliyu Teshaku who is alleged to be
the Head of the Livestock Guard in Benue who is behind those killings.
He is arrested now,” he said.
“People that killed the two clergymen and 17 others in the
church are being tried in Makurdi and they are all Tiv people. And they
are all members of the livestock guard working for Governor Ortom.
“So we expect by now there should be an apology from the Benue
State Government to our association because we have never promoted
violence. We have always advocated for a peaceful resolution of the
crisis.”
Apart from linking Tiv people to the attack on the Catholic church
in Benue State that left two priests and 17 other worshippers dead,
Alhassan accused the state government of propaganda against the
association.
“I have always insisted that Governor Samuel Ortom is on a
voyage of propaganda against our association,” he said. “And today, if
you look at the arrest made in Benue, with respect to the perpetrators
of the conflict there, you look at their ethnicity and background and
you look at who is employing them, we have been vindicated.”
Alhassan’s comments come in the wake of attacks that have gripped
the north-central state in which many people have been killed and many
others displaced.
Allegations making the rounds say that the killings may be
connected with the Anti-Grazing Law signed by Governor Samuel Ortom last
year that led to a faceoff between the state government and herdsmen.
Since January 1, 2018, when suspected herdsmen attacked villages in
Benue State killing 73 persons, Governor Ortom has repeatedly accused
the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore of being responsible for the attacks,
vowing not to go back on the prohibition against open grazing.
The governor has also rejected claims that the state government
armed militia groups in the state and that it had a hand in the attacks.
To back its claim, the state government said it had documentary
evidence linking the association to the killings and it engaged the
police in a war of words earlier in the year over the failure to act on
the evidence.
In April 2018, the state government filed a case against the
association at the State High Court in Makurdi, accusing it of murder
and widespread violence across 14 out of the 23 local councils of the
state
On its part, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has rejected all allegations against it insisting it is a peaceful organisation.
As far as it is concerned, the prohibition of open grazing and
subsequent actions by the state government are responsible for the
violence, claims Governor Samuel Ortom denies.