The Kajuru chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has warned that herders will fight back if they are forced to abandon their trade of cattle rearing.
Speaking to newsmen at a peace workshop in Kaduna on Thursday, the MACBAN’s chairman, Musa Aliyu Ardo, insisted that herders were peace-loving people who co-existed with other ethnic groups.
The workshop, which was organised by the Office of the Vice-President, was aimed at tackling the herders/farmers’ clashes in the state. It was funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
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Ardo said, “We want peace in Kajuru. We are law-abiding citizens. Herders’ are preoccupied with their trade. Herders’ are not farmers. Herders’ business is in the bush where they rear their cattle. Any herdsman indulging in kidnapping, armed robbery is not a true Fulani.
“Rearing cattle is the average herders’ means of livelihood. We have no Western education. Any attempt to separate us from our cattle, means depriving us from our source of livelihood. This is unacceptable and will be resisted. The herder co-exists with all ethnic groups but once he is forced out of his trade; his rights to living trampled, he will be forced to fight back.”