From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has described as hypocritical, the claim by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH) that its members are under threat as a result of their stand against the Open Grazing Prohibition Law of Benue State.
Chief Press Secretary to Governor Samuel Ortom, Terver Akase in a statement made available to Daily Sun said the insinuation by MAKH that thousands of herders have been driven out of Benue with 600 cows dead is a sharp contradiction to their earlier published stand.
“We read in some of today’s national dailies, another statement issued by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore claiming that 10,000 herdsmen have been displaced while over 600 cows have died in Benue State since implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law commenced on November 1.
“We find the allegation by the group as contradictory as it has come. This is because the same group had said two weeks ago that Fulani pastoralists decided to voluntarily leave Benue State because, according to them, they will never accept the law banning open grazing in the state.”
Akase who stated that the group’s alarm that a Fulani cattle owner in Benue recently jumped into River Benue was another ridiculous fabrication aimed at creating an atmosphere of apprehension in the state maintained that it was reason that the State Government has repeatedly called for the arrest of the group’s President, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo and its Secretary, Saleh Alhassan for making statements capable of causing the breakdown of law and order in the state.
“We wish to once more urge security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, apprehend officials of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore for questioning. Hundreds of Benue people have been killed by herdsmen in the last couple of years. Now that the Miyetti Allah group has openly assumed responsibility as the umbrella body shielding the killer herdsmen, it is pertinent that they are arrested and made to account for the blood of the innocent persons.”
He posited that the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law has come to stay and its implementation is ongoing without hitches stressing that the law is not enacted to witch hunt any group of persons or individuals but to protect both farmers and herdsmen.
“We encourage livestock owners to obey provisions of the law to enable them establish ranches for rearing of their animals. This is the best way to end frequent invasion of Benue communities and killing of innocent people,” he said.