Nigeria: Cattle Breeders' Audacity And The Rest Of Us!

By Ifeanyi Izeze

A strange thing is going on in our land while we all watch helplessly. How come Nigeria within a very short time has turned into a nation of absurdities? Can you imagine the level of steps Nigeria has taken aback? Miyetti Allah Cattle herders warning the President of one of the arms of government to resign or they will force him to resign. What impunity! What gut! My heart bleeds with tears for this country. Where is this country heading to?

Is Miyetti Allah now a registered political party in Nigeria? Is it not curious that this group seems to be reiterating the Saraki “must be removed by force” earlier vows by Adams Oshiomole and Omo-Agege? How long can we continue like this as a nation?
This has nothing to do with being for, or against Saraki. Before our full glare, the Miyetti Allah is not only assuming the position of the ruling party but also seems to fast becoming very influential to decisions of governance in this country. This is a threat to our nation and failing to see it that way amounts to a costly self-deceit.

Serially, President Mohammadu Buhari has come under heavy public criticisms on how his body language has condoned the unguarded utterances and actions of these characters. Yet, nothing is being or rather seemed to be done about this group(s). Why are they so untouchable?

As reported by a prominent National daily, the National Coordinator of the association in Benue State, Alhaji Garus Gololo, in an interview in Makurdi said Saraki had created numerous problems for the administration of President Muhammad Buhari, which he said had affected the economic and social growth of the nation.

“It is on this note that we are saying that Saraki ought not to be in office again as Senate President, more so, Saraki has failed to coordinate and organise the National Assembly to offer quality legislation that Nigerians need.

“Nigerians are in dire need of people that have the interest of the masses. Miyetti Allah is looking for a leader that would preside over the affairs of the Senate with ultimate respect for the executive and the judiciary, not someone like Senator Saraki that would always scheme to outdo the Presidency.

“We are now tired of Saraki’s style of leadership at the National Assembly. Therefore, we are now warning him to honourably resign his position as president of the Senate or we will force him out”.

Let’s recall that at the peak of the wanton killings in the Middle belt, all Nigerians rose up to call for the overhauling of the security architecture to mitigate any form of collusion as alleged by Gen. T.Y Danjuma (Rtd) and other notable Nigerians, this same Miyetti Allah group came out boldly to say that the Presidency cannot do that. Their voice was harkened to by the powers that be and up till today nothing has been done to rejig the nation’s internal security architecture.

This same group equally owned up publicly to be the masterminds of the killings in Plateau and Benue states and clearly stated their reasons for doing that and yet they were not arrested against the plea of particularly the Benue state government. Some powers in government turned blind eyes to this open confession and rather told the whole world that the governor of Benue state, Ortom Emmanuel, was the one killing his people.

Is there still any doubt that the serial unguarded statements and impunity by Miyetti Allah is exposing the obvious collusion between some top officials of this government and this group who are being used to stoke division and create the violent crises that have resulted in daily bloodlettings in various parts of the country?

Is it not abundantly clear to Nigerians yet that those fomenting crises, including the bloody clashes in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Edo, Borno, Yobe, Enugu, Kogi, Adamawa and other states in our country, have political or rather government backers? If not, why are they not being arrested and prosecuted for even daring to issue deadly press statements and interviews?

The disclaimer by Miyetti Allah (MACBAN) national secretary, Baba Uthman Ngelzarma would have been okay but for the fact that it looks more like a mere damage limitation effort.

His words: “The attention of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has been drawn to an interview granted by one Garus Gololo in Makurdi (in a newspaper) titled, ‘Resign or we will force you out’ – Miyetti Allah to Saraki. This statement is unfortunate. I will categorically state that Garos Gololo spoke in his personal capacity and has no mandate to speak on behalf of the association.

“Miyetti Allah is a non-partisan association with no interest in the political terrain and we can’t meddle in the affairs of political actors thereby compounding our already obvious challenges.

“I’m therefore appealing to the general public to disregard this statement as it is coming from someone who doesn’t have the mandate of the association to speak on its behalf.”

He may not know this but Baba Uthman actually won my heart with his articulate explanations of the activities of MACBAN on a radio programmed where he was interviewed in Abuja not too long ago. It was really educating as he revealed that most Nigerians may not be aware that Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has a splinter group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Hor, that came into existence few years ago. Both groups have different chains of commands and “do things differently” also.

But let me remind the Miyetti Allah National Secretary, that these same words he has used to disclaim the group in Benue were the exact words he also used when the Plateau State Chairman of the same Miyetti Allah owned up to one episode of a senseless killing spree in Plateau state. So how come the same man is speaking both for MACBAN and Cattle Hor if they are not under one umbrella? That’s a talk for another day!

This has nothing to do with whether or not you like Saraki, we need to take this Miyetti Allah’s new found audacity very seriously because it portends a threat to the very fabric of our nation. We all need to be cautious lest we nonchalantly allow people who don’t mean well for this country destroy our nation for us. God bless Nigeria!

*Ifeanyi Izeze is a commentator on public issues
iizeze@yahoo.com