Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Former Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor on Herdsmen, Alhaji Shehu Tambaya has warned that the recent statements credited to the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH), Abdullahi Bodejo, was capable of causing a state of anarchy in the country.
Bodejo was said to have stated that any state governor that wants peace in his state should just create a particular area for Fulani to stay and equip such area with modern amenities.
“You are a governor and you want to enjoy peace in your state, you don’t need any long meeting, just create a particular area for the Fulani and equip them with modern amenities,” Bodejo was quoted to have said.
But Tambaya, in a chat with Daily Sun in Makurdi on Tuesday noted that only recently, the Secretary of MAKH, Alhassan Saleh came to Benue and apologized for the killings in the state and wondered why top leaders of the group would be speaking from different perspectives.
He wondered why the MAKH is rejecting any other method of animal husbandry that does not agree with nomadic cattle breeding stressing that such stance was capable of sparking violence between herders and locals in states that are not willing to donate land for open grazing.
Tambaya said Benue would not be deterred by threats from the MAKH insisting that the state’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law has come to stay and would be implemented to the latter.
He further calls on anyone wishing to do cow business in the state to approach the state government for land and must be ready to adhere to the laws of the land as regards ranching