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Nobody Can Force Us Out Of South-West, Says Miyetti Allah
Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore says eviction from the South-West is impossible, citing their rights as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution to live wherever they desire.
Miyetti Allah also vowed to avenge the attacks on and loss of herdsmen and their cattle, saying it would never tolerate any act of injustice on herders.
The National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Mr Alhassan Saleh, said this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH against a backdrop of the eviction notices issued to criminal herdsmen by some South-West groups and personalities.
Saleh said it was wrong to drive herders out of any part of Nigeria, adding that if there were criminals among them, the government’s security forces should identify and arrest them.
He said the eviction of herdsmen from the southern region of the country was a dangerous precedent.
The best way to solve the herders-farmers crisis was for state governments to provide ranches and grazing routes for the herders and their animals, he added.
Read Also: Nigerians Petition Biden, UN, Others To Declare Herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Terrorists
He said, “Nobody has the right (to evict herdsmen). If you say you are going to evict us, we will resist eviction. We have been surviving in harsh environments; if we do not resist, we will be wiped out of the planet. If you kill a herder, don’t go and sleep, we will revisit you, and it’s not because we hate your tribe. People attack herders, and in one way or the other, herders have found a way to retaliate.”
Also, Saleh said nobody could bar foreign herdsmen from entering Nigeria, saying most of the herders entering the country once settled in Nigeria but relocated to other neighbouring countries like Ghana and Benin republics.
He said, “All those who travelled to the Benin Republic and others are coming back home. All those saying they will bar foreign herders from entering Nigeria are just playing to the gallery because if they are aware of the ECOWAS Protocols, they would know they cannot chase them away. That is why the position of the Bauchi State Governor [Bala Mohammed] is the true position. You have no right to evict anybody from any part of the country.
“Our number has increased recently because of the tension in Ghana and Benin republics. The ones in Benin Republic have integrated with the Yoruba in such a way that they speak the language. They were initially living in the South-West, and they are coming back.
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