Southern Governors Have Declared War On Herdsmen, Says Miyetti Allah

• An umbrella body of nomadic herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has expressed displeasure over the ban on open grazing in Southern Nigeria by the governors of the region.
• The group said the Southern governors have declared war on herdsmen.

An umbrella body of nomadic herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has expressed displeasure over the ban on open grazing in Southern Nigeria by the governors of the region.

The group, which described the ban as an empty policy, said the Southern governors have declared war on herdsmen.

EKO HOT BLOG had earlier reported that the Southern Governors met in Asaba, the Delta State capital last Tuesday, where they resolved to ban open grazing of cattle in the region, among other resolutions, blaming it for causing insecurity.

However, the Miyetti Allah spokesman, Saleh Alhassan, while speaking on Monday, said, “We condemn it, it is totally unacceptable to us. You can’t ban our business without providing ranches.

“Let them create ranches for us, we don’t have the land, we are ready to ranch, we are ready to pay, let them create the enabling environment for us.

READ ALSO: Arewa Forum Hails Southern Governors Resolve To Ban Open Grazing

“The ban is an empty policy because it has no basis. You can’t ban our business, we are not criminals, let them go after the bandits and the criminals.

“We can’t comply with an empty policy. If they create ranches and ask us to go there, we will go there but they can’t wake up one day and say they are banning our business.

“If the governors are stopping us from grazing, they are preparing for confrontation. Their action is a declaration of war on the herders.”

According to Punch, when asked whether Miyetti Allah would dialogue with the Southern governors on the issue, Alhassan added, “Their colleagues in the North will engage them since it is politics.”

He further said the group would take legal actions against the Southern governors if they stopped the business of the nomadic herders.

“If you stop our legitimate business, we will challenge you in the court of law. We also have cultural ways of addressing injustice,” he said.

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