Irked by the activities of terrorists in the region, the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) have rejected the renewed federal government’s cattle ranching policy in the middle belt States, to Fulani Pastoralists.

According to the Forum, after carefully studying the Federal Government’s renewed cattle ranching policy, “we  unequivocally reject the proposed allocation of Middle Belt lands for ranching and the disguised establishment of settlements for Fulani pastoralists.”

Listed among the States in the Middle Belt region are Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna (Southern Kaduna), Benue, Taraba States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)“, just as the group insisted that ” these are all lands of the Middle Belt which suffered the worst atrocities carried out by Fulani Militia;  attacks are still ongoing in some of these areas.”

In a statement by the Spokesman of MBF, Luka Binniyat , “we consider the policy as a forceful land-grabbing scheme by the Federal Government dressed up as livestock development. It amounts to expropriating ancestral landscape the indigenous Middle Belt communities for the settlement and economic advancement of people who have, for years, been involved in genocidal violence against them”.

Binniyat said, “the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, who is Fulani and is himself a cattle breeder, appears determined to drive what the MBF regards as a Fulani expansionist agenda.”

“His background in cattle breeding as a business should have guided his judgement to consider the vast unoccupied lands in the far north rather than promoting the forceful acquisition and allocation of vast occupied Middle Belt lands for the exclusive use of pastoralists who are mainly Fulani.
This is insensitive, cruel and immoral.”

He remarked, “Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, Zamfara Northern Kebbi have thousands of square Kilometres of empty, unused lands that are not inhabited and there is no justification for why none of these states is in consideration for the pilot scheme of the ranching project.”

“Also, we are alarmed by the changing list of proposed locations. When the Minister announced the initiative in January 2026, Kano State was among the six proposed locations. Kano has now  been replaced by Nasarawa State, placing another Middle Belt state at the centre of the programme. This change raises  questions about the real objective of the policy and strengthens fears that the programme is becoming a vehicle for expanding permanent Fulani settlements into the Middle Belt”, he added.

According to the middle belt group, “hundreds of thousands of hectares of Middle Belt land have already been forcefully  abandoned or occupied following unrelenting attacks, killings and displacement attributed to Fulani ethnic militias. Yet, instead of restoring the occupants of those lands to the displaced owners and securing them against further attacks, the government is considering taking more land for cattle settlements. This is unfortunate and unacceptable.”

Binniyat further queried “if the objective is genuinely livestock development, why concentrate the pilot programme in violence-prone Middle Belt states outside areas ruled by Fulani traditional rulers? ”

He stressed that “the MBF considers this policy a dangerous attempt to reward those accused of perpetrating mass violence against Middle Belt communities with the very land that has been at the centre of their expansionist drive.”

Said he: “the  Wase (Plateau State) Model that the Minister has been flaunting about has been opposed by average farmers and Plateau state indigenes. Only elites, politicians, some traditional rulers who stand to benefit are backing that forceful disposition of thousands of farmers ancestral lands in Wase.”

“A policy imposed without the genuine  consent of every stakeholder – not only politicians and elites – after exhaustive consultation and security  assurance guaranteed the owners of the land, can only breed conflict.
  It will deepen resentment and could trigger serious problems. The MBF will not stand by while our ancestral land is taken from their owners”, he added.

Meanwhile, the group urged the President should revisit the renewed policy, while stressing that “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must realise the danger of this policy and its negative electoral consequences ahead of 2027 Presidential election.”

“The MBF therefore demands the immediate suspension and cancellation of this provocative policy in the Middle Belt. We call on affected communities to use every lawful and constitutional means available to resist its implementation.  We call on legal luminaries across the Middle Belt to mobilise and challenge in Court any unlawful land acquisition or allocation of land to those who seek our annihilation”, the statement added.

Binniyat stressed further, “we demand that National Assembly members from affected states to defend their constituents lands and summon the Minister and inform him about the negative result of this policy at a time that all indigenes of proposed states are wary of Fulani presence. Governors who surrender ancestral lands for this programme must know that their people will remember, especially those seeking re-election.”

 He added, “electorates should therefore, use every lawful democratic means, including the ballot, to reject the re-election of any governor who allocates community lands without genuine consent of the people. The Middle Belt has been bled, displaced and dispossessed enough”.