Southern Kaduna crisis not religious — Cattle Breeders group says
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian (MACBAN) said the crisis in Southern Kaduna has nothing to do with religion.
Speaking to newsmen Sunday, the national secretary of MACBAN, Baba Othman Ngelzarma said the crisis is like any other between herdsmen and farmers across the country.
He said the Southern Kaduna crisis started from simple farm destruction in Godogodo which was not well managed.
He said the crisis is not different from what is happening in Zamfara State where Muslim farmers and Muslim pastoralists fight as well as Katsina State where Fulani as farmers and Fulani as pastoralists fight.
Ngelzarma said that MACBAN has commenced the process of ensuring peace through communication with other groups saying the strategy has brought peace back to Benue State.
He said herders are not only culprits in the crises but also victims saying “Media is not balancing its report; they just jump into conclusion portraying the herders as the culprits. The herder is a victim and culprit at the same time. We are at the receiving end. When our cattle are rustled and Fulani herder is kidnapped, our story is not heard because the media is not covering that area.
“Today kidnappers no longer kidnap Fulani herdsmen, what they do now are to get his GSM and call him to go and pay ransom with a threat to kill him if he reports to police. So because he lives in the forest he would just sell two of his cows and pay ransom for him to stay peacefully where ever he stays. Before a personality is kidnapped in the town, twenty Fulani herders would have been kidnapped unheard in the forest, we are suffering.
“Where necessary we compliment what security is doing and we are going round the country for peace building”, Ngelzarma said.
