Group blames FG for bias in herdsmen, farmers’ crisis

• Fulani are not killers, Miyetti Allah tells media houses

The Vanguard Against Tiv Massacre (VATIM) has accused the Federal Government of bias over the way and manner in which it has been handling the country’s security, especially with regard to killings by Fulani herdsmen.

It said the recent misunderstanding between herdsmen and farmers on the Mambilla Plateau in Sardauna Council of Taraba State, which led to loss of lives and property was different, especially with the response of security agencies and government officials.

A statement jointly signed by the Chairman, Ephraim Fater Sarwuan and Secretary, Lubem Gena in Abuja yesterday said the same story has been reported from Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Enugu, Edo, Delta and Ondo states, noting that the UNHCR-BENGONET report said 19 of the 36 states of the country have come under attacks from herdsmen.

Sarwuan noted that the posture of those handling the country’s security architecture was worrisome, stressing that the incident in Taraba, which was not the first, drew swift reactions from the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazzau, who led the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Alhassan and others to Jalingo.

Meanwhile, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has accused media organisations of conspiring against Fulani and deliberately under reported the Fulani herdsmen’s massacre in Mambila of Taraba State, adding that the Fulani were not killers as being portrayed by the media.

The group made the accusation through its Plateau State Chairman, Muhammad Nuru Abdullahi who spoke with the newsmen while swearing-in newly elected executive at the Jos Central Mosque last weekend.

He explained that the Fulani were at the receiving end of all the killings in the country, but because of the propaganda by the media that constantly tag the Fulani as killers, nobody cared to hear their own side of the story.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government and security agencies to arrest the perpetrators and masterminds of the Mambila killings and bring them to book.