Benue Crisis: “You Can’t Label Miyetti Allah As A Terrorist Organization” – Sultan

Benue Crisis: “You Can’t Label Miyetti Allah As A Terrorist Organization” – Sultan

The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Jama’atul Nasir Islam, Sa’ad Abubakar lll, has stated that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeder Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) can not be labelled as a terrorist organisation.

Emir Sanusi Admits To Be Patron Of Miyetti Allah Alongside Sultan Of Sokoto, Others The monarch said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 1st General Assembly of Inter-faith Dialogue forum with the theme, ‘Living together, achieving together,’ The Punch reports

While admitting that he is a patron of

the MACBAN, the Sultan stressed that

the group had no control over the

Fulani herdsmen, whom he said were

preoccupied with their animals in the

bush.

Sultan Abubakar, who berated those

calling for proscription of the group,

challenged them to as well call for

proscription of other Socio-ethnic

organisations like the Afenifere,

Ohanaeze ndi Igbo and Arewa

Consultative Forum, among others.

He said, “We pray no cautioned to the level of Afghanistan

where everybody is bearing

arms, but you can’t label

Miyetti Allah as a terrorist

organisation. It has never

sat down to discuss how to

kill innocent people and

take over their land. The

Fulani (herdsmen) don’t

care about electricity, roads

or the government because

they live in the bush.

“We refuse to accept that all

Fulani are bad. The crisis in

Benue is not a religious or

ethnic problem but an

economic one. It is a fight

between herdsmen and

farmers and unless the

government takes it seriously,

it may get out of hand.”

The Sultan also queried the

competence of the security agencies

and their inability to stop the attacks

and killings by herdsmen in Benue

State.

He stated that everything must be

done to stop the ongoing loss of lives,

warning religious and political

leaders to avoid inflammatory

utterances that could further worsen

the situation.

“The killings must be

stopped, they have gone too

far. This is not the time to

apportion blames, but to

seek solutions. What are the

security agencies doing and

when will these killings

stop? We must challenge the

leaders with one voice, the

issues must not be looked at

with the prisms of religion

or ethnicity,” Abubakar

cautioned.