Cattle breeders sue for peace in Kaduna

THE Kaduna State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBA) has called for ceasefire, saying reprisal and vengeance would not end crisis.

It also  urged political and religious leaders to avoid making inflammatory statements and hate speeches.

Speaking at a news conference in Kaduna on Saturday, the Assistant General Secretary of the association, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, said that “we feel that it is time to set the record straight for posterity.”

He debunked  the impression created in the social media as well as the mainstream media that  the entire area was on fire, stating that some of the claims and counter-claims were not only fictitious, but also far from the truth.

According to him, the crisis only took  place in three local government areas of  Jema’a, Zangon Kataf and Kauru.

The Miyetti leader also dispelled the insinuation making the rounds that Fulanis and the natives were sworn enemies saying, “the indigenous Fulanis and the natives are living in peace and harmony.”

‘Most of us are born in Southern kaduna and we have been living together without rancour for over two hundred years. We found the natives to be good people and hospitable.

‘it is also  important that I said  this here . We have three types of fulani grazing in the area We have the indigenous fulani, we have the semi settled fulani ,these are Fulani who graze and move to neighbouring states like Nassarawa and trans national fulani ,these are fulani who came from the neighbouring countries like Niger and Cameroon.

He traced the 2011 post election violence in the state which  coincided with the movement of the trans nomadic herdsmen as the remote causes of the present crisis.