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Cattle rearing not Dollar stuffing – Miyetti Allah tells Ganduje
BY KAZIE UKO
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, one of the two umbrella bodies of herdsmen in Nigeria, on Wednesday tackled the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, ridiculing the governor’s proposal to ban the Fulani herders’ ancient practice of open grazing which entails driving cattle by foot through long distance in search of pasture and water.
Governor Ganduje had in January 2021 called on the Federal Government to enact a law banning the movement of cattle from the northern part of Nigeria to the south, distance that could be as long as 900kms depending on the destination, in order to resolve the incessant incidences of clashes between farmers and herders.
He said having a ban on movement of herders would also address the challenges of cattle rustling.
“We are building a Ruga settlement in Samsosua Forest, our border with Katsina and we have succeeded in curtailing the effect of banditry in that area.
“So, we are building many houses, we are constructing a dam; we are establishing a Cattle Artificial insemination Centre; we are establishing a veterinary clinic and already we have started building houses for herdsmen.
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“My advocacy is that we should abolish the transportation or trekking of herdsmen from the northern part of Nigeria to the middle belt and to the Southern part of Nigeria.
“There should be a law that will ban, otherwise we cannot control the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers and cannot control the cattle rustling which is affecting us greatly,” Ganduje elaborated while responding to questions by journalists.
But the spokesman of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Hassan, whose group was recently accused by the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, of attempted assassination, pooh-poohed on the Ganduje proposal, Wednesday, while responding to issues of insecurity in the country.
“Let him (Ganduje) put in place the infrastructure. Kano is a semi-arid state. What has he provided even to the herders in Kano? Kano is a heavily cultivated area during the dry season. So, what alternative have you provided for the herders? It is not about cheap idle political talks. These are real issues.
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“Like, I have the capacity to absorb 10,000 herders; this is what I have provided for them; this is where they will water their animals; this is where they will get their feeds. You don’t just come and say they should move to Kano. If they move to Kano, are they going to be in his government house? It is not stuffing dollars. I’m sorry to say that,” Hassan fumed in a report published by Vanguard.
Hassan’s rhetoric of, “It is not stuffing Dollars”, is a direct attack on Ganduje, who, in October 2018, was seen in viral video stuffing bundles of suspected United States Dollars into his trousers pockets, allegedly paid to him as bribe by a contractor.
The governor had since denied he was the man in the video, describing the video as manipulated and handwork of mischief makers.