The umbrella body of Nigeria’s cowboys, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has instructed Fulani herdsmen to begin a mass exodus from the 17 southern states, in the wake of last week’s collaborative banning of roaming cattle by governors from the region.
It did not help matters that The Presidency often sided with the violent Fulani and often shot down any attempt at defensive self-help, coming up with several schemes like the unpopular Ruga project to pacify the aggressors it defended as victims of Climate Change.
Couched in a tone of bitterness and disappointment, the Sunday statement bore the signature of the Chairman of the Bauchi State branch of MACBAN, Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed.
It expressed disgust with President Muhammadu Buhari, a cattle-breeding Fulani from Katsina State, whom it accused of failure to confront the governors’ directive on behalf of his Fulani kinsmen.
Ahmed actually dismissed Buhari as a “figurehead” who “doesn’t know what he’s doing,” and urged him to “step aside” for replacement by someone “who is ready to sacrifice his life for his subjects.”
The MACBAN letter to herders reads:
“This is a simple calculation. We are heading for secession. The rulers are no longer interested in the people. If some people are banned from open grazing, there is nothing more. Fulani people should move out from there. It is very simple.
“Must we transport the cattle there? I have said it before. We have an option of breeding our cattle here (North). We are peace lovers. Let them come and buy from us. It is some people’s fault.
“The Southern governors can do that. There is no problem, let them do what they want. If the Northern governors feel like, they can ban open grazing. We don’t care.
“The President is there as a figurehead. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He is not controlling anybody. In our country now, everyone does what he feels like. The country is already moving apart. Where is the central government, if some governors can meet and take decisions that are against the Constitution?
“We also call on the President to step aside or for Nigerians to put heads together and elect a credible president in 2023, a leader with focus and competence. Nigeria should get a leader with a good example, who is ready to sacrifice his life for his subjects.”
