The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian has described the incessant attacks on communities and persons by the Fulani Herdsmen as an act done in self defence.
A MACBAN delegation leader to the Defence Headquarters, Senator Dagiri Alkali, explained further that the Fulani Herdsmen’s move into other territories and regions in the country was as a result of their eviction from their original settlements in the North.
He added that the Boko Haram insurgents had attacked the Herdsmen and their cattles in the North-East and other parts of the country and stole millions worth of cow from the breeders.
He maintained that the Fulani Herdsmen were also victims of cattle rustling in Areas such as Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue and parts of Kogi states adding that the herdsmen had lost millions of cows to the rustlers.
The delegation leader further questioned why people had not sought to know the reason behind the migration of the Fulani Herdsmen to other parts of the country, proceeding to ask where Nigerians expect the herdsmen to keep their over 20 million cows in the country.
“When the reserves and forest were gazetted and reserved for cattle breeders, this incident was not there; but the increase in population has now wiped out the entire grazing reserves in this country; 400 and something of them all wiped out. And you have a population of about 20 million cows. Where do you keep them? And every one of us likes to eat meat.
“This is a venture that over 20 million people are engaged in. And nobody cares to know what the causes of this problem are. Presently, you know the case of Boko Haram. They attacked and decapitated the population of Fulani in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and some parts of Taraba.
“The cattle rustlers have displaced the Fulani in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue and in some parts of Kogi. Millions of cattle have been taken from these herdsmen. So when somebody says a Fulani man killed somebody, I wonder why? How? It’s only a poor man that fights.
“But you, as the military people, you know self-defence is an art. In the military, if you are attacked you have to defend yourself. You have been squeezed; you have to find a way to survive.”
The delegation leader further accused the media of not airing it when the Fulani Herdsmen were being killed in bushes.