By Baba Yusuf
Abuja
National coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garus Gololo has blamed the Benue state governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom over “his inability to protect the Fulani pastoralist and the residents of the state.”
Gololo, who made this known in a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend, said the activities of government livestock guards against Fulani pastoralists were “unfortunate and not acceptable.
“In Guma local government area of the state, on 31 December, 2017, the government ordered the livestock guards to fire on one Fulani man and his 1,000 cows were collected from him, while 10 herdsmen were declared missing,” he said.
Gololo explained further that reports reached him that, “on 4th January, 2018, the socalled government militia collected 300 cows from another Fulani man and 10 of his children are also missing. Why Benue state government recruited ‘Sojan kpatari’, as they were called and gave them Ak 47 to deal with Fulani pastoralists in the state, is it because we don’t have money to hire like them?”
The coordinator stated that MACBAN did not plan to attack anybody in Benue or Nigeria at large, saying that people attacked the Fulani and took away their cattle and they could not say anything because they are laymen and didn’t know any journalist to report their case to.
“The allegation making the rounds that we hired people to attack Benue is a big lie,” he said.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint one of them as Senior Special Assistant on Fulani Matters to enable him see clearly what is happening within Fulani and farmers in the country.
