MBF, MACBAN disagree over visit to US ambassador

The recent visit by some officials of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to the United States ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, has been generating reactions in some quarters, with the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) describing it as an attempt by MACBAN to deceive the ambassador and the international community.

Recall that the leadership of MACBAN had met with Mr Mills, who wanted to hear about the concerns of herders’ communities, especially on the causes of insecurity and opportunities to peacefully resolve conflicts.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune about the development, the national president of Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu, said: “MACBAN’s visit to the ambassador came as a surprise to Nigerians, given the association’s role in the insecurity ravaging the Middle Belt and other areas of the country. It is land grabbing.

“If the perpetrators of the evil are the ones crying foul and complaining to the ambassador, that makes us very concerned.

“And certainly we have to look at the reason they went; after all, they are the ones attacking without provocation, trying to take over people’s ancestral lands. We have to respond by countering everything they have said.

“We are not against any group meeting with whoever or any authority, but now that it has reached a stage that people are likely to defend themselves, they are now going to the US ambassador to complain, pretending to be the victims.

“For now all we can say is let’s study what transpired fully and not react based on sentiment, but it is unfortunate that such people will meet with the US ambassador, pretending to be the victims when they are the ones unleashing mayhem on innocent people in the quest to grab their land. They are the ones attacking the people within the Middle Belt and other parts of the country without provocation.

“Unless a cow trespasses into people’s farms, he would not attack the cow, and in the past, all these criminalities they are doing, when a cow entered somebody’s farm, it didn’t go beyond the ward head, and it would be resolved; the cow owner would pay the farmer for what his cow had damaged.

“But today, these people go into people’s farms, uproot their yams, cassavas and the rest for their cows to eat and destroy what somebody had laboured for. And if you complain, they carry guns and shoot you.”

Dr Pogu narrated that going to the US embassy at this time when their kinsmen, both the local and foreign ones, are still on the prowl in Benue, Plateau and other places was to deceive the ambassador and other Nigerians.

The MBF president, who cautioned the American ambassador against falling for MACBAN’s antics, further alleged that there are instances where the local ones invited mercenaries from outside the country for dastardly acts.

“It is no longer in doubt that these people organise themselves as militias and attack civilians, so their complaint is just a falsehood. I am from Chibok. Some days ago, some groups of terrorists attacked people who were mourning and killed about 16 people, who were buried yesterday [Tuesday]. The question is, did they rustle any cows? Certainly not.

“So these people just embrace criminality, and now they have discovered that everybody is fed up with what they are doing, and they are trying to pretend to be the victims while they are actually the attackers.”

Dr Pogu added that there were instances during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari when MACBAN came out openly to own up to the killings in parts of the Middle Belt.

He said, “We don’t know why they met the ambassador. In the past, during the Buhari administration, these people used to come out openly to say, Yes, they have done it; that they killed people and owned up to it. So for them to behave this way, they know the tide is turning against them, and they are now pretending to be the victims. So the world needs to know that they are villains.

“They are not just attacking the Middle Belt, but all parts of Nigeria. The people that are attacking don’t have cows; many of them are imported to destabilise this country so that they dispossess Nigerians of their ancestral lands and occupy them forcefully.

“So whatever they say is belated because all Nigerians know the truth; the American Embassy needs to know the truth. These people are crying foul; they are actually the perpetrators of crimes in this country.”

Meanwhile, a top official of MACBAN and national president of Gan Allah Development Associations, Ibrahim Abdullahi, has defended the visit to the US ambassador, describing it as timely.

Abdullahi said: “The meeting with the US ambassador to Nigeria enabled Miyetti Allah to narrate the correct happenings in the country.

“The visit, I understand, followed recent pronouncements by the US Congress suggesting that the Fulani are killing Christians in Nigeria. In this case, it is very important for Miyetti Allah to respond to this baseless allegation as one of the associations protecting the interest of herders.

“I understand the meeting was fruitful, even though, we are not expecting an outright justice, but Miyetti Allah was able to give the correct narrations and made their position known to the US ambassador, compared to the negative narrations made by the US Congress in collaboration with some unpatriotic elites and enemies of Nigeria’s progress and development.

“This stereotype made against the Fulani is not in the interest of the country. Creating a negative narrative for an ethnic group that has about 60 million population out of 200 million is not the best for the country.

“Trying to portray the Fulani as criminals simply because a fraction is involved in crimes is utterly dishonest. There’s no tribe in the country that does not have bad eggs. We need to have a rethink about some of these things for the progress of the country.”