The Bauchi State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), says it will stop its members from selling and supplying cattle to the southern parts of the country if the governors carry out their recent threats of evicting herdsmen from their states.
The group, while addressing a press conference in Bauchi on Wednesday, also threatened to sue the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, for labelling Fulani herdsmen as terrorists.
At the briefing, the state Chairman of MACBAN, Abubakar Sadiq, said they will be forced to stop their members from supplying cattle to states whose governors had threatened to eject herders.
“We, the MACBAN, has resolved to stop our members from selling or supplying our cattle to states in the south whose governors have threatened to evict our members.
“The Fulani people have faced a lot of persecution in Nigeria but they still depend on our cattle for their needs.
“People must be fair to the Fulani race, they should not be branded as criminals.
“We have also resolved to drag Governor Samuel Ortom to court unless he immediately withdraws his statement that Fulani herdsmen are criminals.
“And if he fails to withdraw the statement with immediate effect, we will be left with no option other than legal means to clear the name of Fulani as an ethnic group.
“He has always been against Fulani people and you will recall that he once enacted a law banning our people from Benue.
“Although the law did not succeed, but it has created problems for the herders in the state.
“Government at all levels should create a conducive atmosphere for the Fulani and others to do their legitimate businesses without molestation and castigation.
“We are all Nigerians and must be treated equally as such,” he said.
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