A group of Fulani herders, the Coalition of Herdsmen’s Associations of Nigeria (CPAN), has accused the Nigerian government and other ethnic groups in the country of destroying the business of raising cattle.
The group also claimed that the hostility shown towards the Fulani, who are mainly cattle herders, has forced many to leave the country.
The group made the claims during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
He subsequently called on the government and the international community to save the average cattle herder, whose business he said “is failing and can lose his life at any time without consequences.”
Speaking on behalf of CPAN, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) national president Baba – Othman Ngelzarma said the briefing was held to draw the government’s attention to the dangers facing the Fulani. in all the country. .
Ngelzarma said that while Lake Chad has been adversely affected by global warming, forcing herders to look elsewhere for water and feed for their livestock, the Nigerian government watches helplessly as the Fulani are treated as citizens of second class.
“To begin with, we all know that global warming is a reality and has massively affected Lake Chad, forcing our people to move south in search of water and feed for our livestock. While the Nigerian government has not lifted a finger to recharge Lake Chad and make it habitable for our people, it has watched helplessly as different communities and state governments in the north central and southern parts of the country treat the Fulani as irritants or secondary. . class citizens who do not have the right to live or who do not deserve to have a source of life.
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“State governments make hateful laws meant to scare our people away. They prohibit open grazing without providing infrastructure for alternatives. So they seize our cows and recklessly arrest our people, give them unreasonable fines and everyone looks on as if everything is fine.
“The Fulani have been subjected to stereotyping, ethnic cleansing and mass murder in almost every state in the Federation. From Zamfara in the north-west to Adamawa, Taraba in the north-east, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa in the north-central, to Ondo and Oyo in the south-west, or worse, the south-eastern states, the Fulani people have been the object of hate. , annihilation for unjustifiable reasons”.
He accused the governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, of using cattle guards to arrest and extort Fulani herdsmen.
“In addition to the most recent bombing on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 in Akwanaja, there were similar airstrikes against innocent herdsmen in Keana and Awe in Doma LGA of Nasarawa State,” he lamented.
Fulani leaders called on the federal government to investigate the murder of the herdsmen in Nasarawa and to disband the cattle guards.