source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/plateau-massacre-story-miyetti-allah/
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association, MACBAN’s National Secretary, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, has insisted
that his group has nothing to do with last week’s massacre in Plateau State’
villages which claimed more than 100 lives. Nzelzarma’s position came against the
backdrop of the claim by the MACABAN Chairman (North Central Zone), Danladi
Ciroma, who said the killings were in retaliation for the rustling of 300 cows
in the attacked communities
. Ngelzarma spoke on a day Hon. Istifanus Dung Gyan,
representing Markin Ladi/Riyon Federal Constituency, Plateau State, and
specifically the villages where the massacre took place, said a lead may have
been provided on the killings. Mr Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere
spokesperson, on his part, described the MACABAN’s National Secretary’s
statement as responding to pressure from Nigerians. Excerpts from interviews:
What do you make of the statement by your Zonal Chairman in the North Central
that the latest killings in Plateau were retaliatory for the rustling of cows?
Ngelzarma: The statement made by our Zonal Chairman is not our position. He was
not mandated in any way to represent the national body of the association. To
that extent, we consider that as his personal opinion because that is not the
position of Miyetti Allah. Up till now, we have not made public our position.
Before we release a position on an issue as sensitive as this one, we have to
call a meeting of the executive council, discuss, analyse and get inputs from
our branch in Plateau State before telling the world our position. You are
saying it is a matter of hierarchy now but if that is the statement he made
which you described as his personal opinion, is it not possible that it
reflects the mind-set of the followers? Not in anyway. Before he speaks, he has
to carry along the state branch. When did he make the statement? The day after
the crisis! At the said time, the state branch had not been given time to
analyse the issues surrounding the massacre. So we don’t how he jumped to make
this nasty, horrible statement. This is not the position of the association.
The only people who are authorised to speak on issues of this nature to the
public are the National President, my humble self as the National Secretary and
the Public Relations Officer of the association after clearance by the EXCO.
Look at how many were killed in this carnage. We do not support this type of
thing. We don’t condone it. It is condemnable. We condemn it in all
ramifications. We know the good work the governor is doing and sympathise with
him. He has invested a lot in peace in three years. He has almost succeeded in
bringing peace. See how the Fulani and the Berom are working together in the
mining fields, in business before this crisis. The crisis is taking us back to
where we started building peace. While you attribute this to personal opinion,
the reality of the matter is that those who carried out the latest killings
appeared like those who have been wreaking havoc in Plateau in recent times. In
view of that, what is your response to those who say that Mr Danladi Ciroma
should be invited by the DSS to tell what he might know on Plateau at the
moment? Security agencies have a responsibility and they have a way of doing
their work. All our hopes are on the security agencies to end the killings in the
country because, as I always say, our members are also affected considering
what took place in so many places, from Demboro down to Kasa. Look at what
happened to our members in these places. They have been suffering; they have
been losing their lives, property. In Benue, for example, farmers are put in
internally displaced persons camps, taken out of their comfort zone because of
this crisis. Herdsmen are relocating, losing their cows and their lives; nobody
is a winner in this crisis. The only solution is for security agencies to be up
and doing in trying to bring the perpetrators of these killings to justice. The
last time we discussed on this platform was about a month ago and the issue had
to do with Benue State. I recall asking you about the carnage attributed to
Miyetti Allah making inflammatory statements that they will not accept
anti-grazing law and that they will make the state ungovernable. You disowned
the statements. This new statement comes out now and you say it is the personal
opinion of your Zonal Chairman who made it. At what point does your
organisation begin to think about this trending notion that there is a sinister
motive somewhere? There is no way we will take responsibility because our
association is a non-violent, non-political association established to cater
for the welfare of herdsmen in the country. My attention was even drawn to an
article this morning in a newspaper where somebody was speaking about bloodbath
and legitimization of terrorism, and condemned MACABAN. I want to make it
categorically clear that MACABAN, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, is
entirely different from Miyetti Allah Cultural Association. The governor of
Benue is having problem with Miyetti Allah Cultural Association, not MACABAN.
MACABAN is not faceless. MACABAN has an office in Abuja. MACABAN is a
legitimate body. MACABAN has respected traditional rulers as members, Board of
Trustees’ members. So this statement coming from an individual who does not
have authority to represent this association in anyway…is unfortunate. But he
is the Chairman of the association in the zone. Yes, but he has his own
responsibilities. By making him the Chairman does not give him a blank cheque
to represent the association in an unauthorised manner. Those who are supposed
to represent MACABAN at the state level are the state Chairman, Secretary and
the PRO on matters affecting their states, they are mandated to interface with
the media and tell the world the perspectives affecting the association in
their states. When it comes to the nation, the national will still get inputs
from the states. When we have necessary information with pictures; that is when
we have the authority to go to the media, because of the fear of statements
that may backfire. So we have to have something we can hold on to before we
face the media and say the position of the association. We don’t operate in a
vacuum; we operate based on laid down processes; that is how the association
was established. This guy has no mandate to represent this association on a
matter of this type or any matter for that matter. We know there are
differences between herders and local youths in Plateau. Have you had the
opportunity to speak with your members since this crisis started? What is their
perspective because what we hear is that some Plateau youths brandishing
weapons have been killing cows, stealing cows? Does that tally with what you
have been hearing from your followers? When things like this happen, the state
branches find out and report to the appropriate security agencies and
government. Having done that, they send a copy of the report to us. But while
security agencies are working on these things, we don’t go public. We allow the
security agencies to do their work and come to a conclusion because they ought
to know about the genesis and how this crisis came to the level it is today.
And Miyetti Allah in Plateau has been working closely with the government of
the state to achieve the peace that we had before this massacre. Even this one
(massacre) that took place, I spoke with the state branch. I told them to give
us a report. He (MACABAN National Secretary) has disowned the statement by the
Chairman of the North Central Zone of Miyetti Allah, saying he had no authority
to speak on the association’s behalf. How do you internalize that? Odumakin:
Well, this is the first time I am hearing from him condoling with those who
died. That shows human feelings and emotions, but I think they have to do more
than this. Last night, a gentleman came online with me, he worked with me when
I headed General Buhari’s media campaign in 2011, and he was saying that
Miyetti Allah never makes statements. Now he has come out to say the person who
made the statement, a Zonal Chairman, has no authority to speak for them. This
is not the first time. When we had problems in Benue State, all kinds of
statement were credited to Miyetti Allah, ‘Blood will flow’, ‘We want to take
over Benue’. What are they (MACABAN) doing to the man that made the statement?
It is a good thing they are responding to pressure from the public because we
cannot continue like this. What should they do to this man who made the
statement? They should rally round security agencies and investigate him. He
knows more about this mess. Until that is done, they cannot disown what he has
said because he is their official. This is not the first time they would disown
statements from their association. In a country where justice is not done, the
hearts of men are bound to do iniquities. The reason people can get away with
this kind of statement is because they know that there is no justice in the
land. For the past three years, thousands of people have been killed. How many
people are in court today? And government is trying to divert attention from
those doing the killings, saying politicians are the ones doing it. And you
have not arrested them. We have seen pictures of protesters marching to the
Government House in Jos to make their feelings known. What can you tell us
about what is being done, first of all, identifying the cause of this massacre?
Istifanus Dung Gyan:This is the constituency I am representing at the National
Assembly. I want to say that the issue at stake is the issue of land grabbing.
I say so because these attacks have been sustained over the past ten years. And
during the ten-year-period, village after village have been over run. People
are displaced, people are massively killed. And their land is taken over and
occupied by herdsmen. The latest attack is in furtherance of the same land
grabbing agenda. Four villages have already been added to the 45 villages over
run and under forceful occupation. It is simply a game to ensure that a cattle
colony is carved out, land is set aside for cattle grazing and that has led to
this holocaust, this ethnic cleansing, these mass killings we are witnessing in
my constituency. It is very unfortunate, condemnable. I want to thank the
international community and all Nigerians that have reasoned as one people to
condemn this act of man’s inhumanity to man. It is indeed a very harrowing
experience that over 200 people will be killed in cold blood without any
resistance by the state security apparatus. I am not sure if you are aware of
it. The Chairman of the North Central Zone of Miyeti Allah issued a statement
describing the attack as retaliatory, saying it is a result of cattle rustling
that happened in the area but we have the National Secretary of Miyeti Allah
who said the Zonal Chair had no authority to speak on the group’s behalf. Could
you tell us how the people responded to the previous statement and the new
position from Miyetti Allah? We now have a lead on the killings, the Zonal
Chair having owned up. He is the one now to be called by security agencies. He
ought to have been arrested and, by now, in custody to tell the nation how the
massacre of hundreds of people took place in the constituency. Your people have
lived peacefully with these herdsmen all this while. How did it get to this and
what is the solution? We need to get rid of all sorts of criminals and
terrorists; we have to confront this thing headlong. That was how Boko Haram
started. It was treated with kid gloves until it became a monster out to
consume the nation. Now, we are challenged by another set of terrorists in the
name of killer herdsmen and the Nigerian state is still treating them with kid
gloves. Earlier you said this is a land grabbing thing. How about the
traditional institution? You said this has been going on for a long time. What
is the role of the traditional institution to curb this trend? I want to say
that all theories that have to do with conflict resolutions have been
experimented in Plateau, but the issue is that they will not honour peace, they
will not honour dialogue because that will defeat the agenda of
land grabbing and annexation. About three of my traditional rulers
have been killed. Three are living in exile. Of recent, two of them had to
escape from their palaces. So the traditional institution is not left out of
the massacre. Nobody, whether traditional or church, is left out. In the latest
attack, all the churches in affected communities were destroyed. So I don’t
know what other experiment we need other than to enforce the law and order and
ensure that the Nigerian state takes responsibility because the primary
constitutional responsibility of government is to safeguard law and order and
this is what needs to be done. The Nigerian state must rise up to its
constitutional responsibility to ensure that this thing is arrested in my
constituency otherwise a whole ethnic group will be cleansed away from Nigeria.
Let me bring Mr Ngelzarma to respond to your statements. He said the impression
they have is that this is about land grabbing or how do you explain, according
to him, that those communities that have been attacked are still being occupied
by herdsmen? Ngelzarma: I don’t agree with this issue about land grabbing. If
you can remember vividly, the crisis in Plateau did not start as
farmers/herdsmen crisis. It started more than 17 years ago as a religious
crisis, then it became farmers /herdsmen crisis. The lawmaker has spoken my
mind in so many ways in respect of law and order. This is what we are calling
for. Raising the issue of land grabbing, land grabbing from whom and by whom? I
would like to make some clarifications again; it appears to me as if most of
the people out there don’t differentiate between MACABAN and Miyetti Allah
Cultural Association. They are two different registered associations. Our own
association has been in existence for almost 30 years, it was registered on the
12th of February 1986. We are not a political or violent association. That is
why today we have respected traditional rulers as Chairmen and Board of
Trustees’ members. Another clarification; let the whole world know that Miyeti
Allah is not the only pastoralist association in Nigeria. There are other
pastoralist associations in Nigeria and not all Fulani are members of MACABAN.
We have our members; some other cattle rearers have their own groups. We don’t
speak for the entire pastoralists. We are never a terrorist organisation. That
is why we have our headquarters in Abuja; that is why we have offices in all
the 36 states of the federation including the FCT. In fact, that is why we have
elected representatives in all the 36 states. Right there in Jos, are your
people able to differentiate between these groups when this kind of thing
happens? Istifanus Dung Gyan: You have communities that have hosted herdsmen.
And these communities have coexisted peacefully over time but when the agenda
of land grabbing came, the very host communities that have accommodated the
herdsmen became the first victims of ethnic cleansing. How do you grab the
land? You have to cleanse the people from it before you can grab the land under
occupation, he needs to know this. Even under the curfew the state government
imposed, another set of villages was attacked, set ablaze, people killed.
Yesterday, I had to go round over ten IDP camps to administer relief. Barikin
land is already taken over. I just launched the Bring Back our Land, TBBOL,
movement. We are placing a demand on the nation, on government to
bring back our land. Our land has to be restored. Our peoples’ economy has been
crippled. There is malicious destruction of farmlands. The locals used to have
cows, but the cows were rustled by the same people, cattle rustlers. You
interact very well in the Middle-Belt. How do you get hold of this, identify
the challenge and then bring up a solution? Odumakin: The MACABAN Secretary
spoke about different groups. If he says his group is not the one carrying out
these killings, it still boils down to the question of injustice. What are the
security agencies doing to get this other group he is talking about to account
for their actions? I could not eat looking at those images. I think the time
has come, and I want to beg the media, we should stop this wrong narrative of
farmers/herders clashes. These are no clashes. It is a group perpetrating
terror. We must address nationhood. A multi-ethnic society can only run on the
basis of federalism. This military arrangement does not serve our purpose and
that is why I must make this fundamental point. We have been calling for
ranches. Now the federal government is coming with its own idea which the
people have rejected; you now want to acquire land and bring the problem you
have in Plateau to every part of Nigeria, we don’t want that. Anybody that
wants to do a ranch in Lagos, go to the state secretariat, pay and get land.
What would you consider the solution to these killings? Istifanus Dung Gyan: I
think the Nigerian state must take responsibility and declare the killer
herdsmen as terrorists. If that is not done, the killings will stop. Secondly,
justice must be done. All the displaced communities must be brought back to
their communities under occupation. They told us they have arrested the
killers. We must see those that have owned up to it arrested and prosecuted.
The next thing is that there must be professionalism on the part of security
agencies because there have been cases of collusion. And the international
community and all Nigerians must mount pressure on government to ensure that
these killer herdsmen that have been rated as the 4th killer group globally as
a terrorist organization are confronted head long. Until this is done, we are
not very sure that these killings will stop because these people are determined
to grab our land by force and take it over. Odumakin: The Nigerian state must
rise to the occasion to show that we have a government in the land. The first
thing, as the lawmaker said, law and order must be enforced across board. Once
you treat these people with kid gloves, this thing will continue…but, more
importantly, the president said a few days ago that those who are talking about
restructuring have personal agenda. There is no personal agenda, it is a
national agenda. This thing (killings) cannot continue. We must address the
structure of this country. The police should be arresting these criminals but
the IG, remember he said one time that those who are doing this are not
Nigerians. Reorganisation of the security agencies as proposed by government is
a right step in the right direction. But beyond that, there are structural
issues that we have to deal with as a nation. So when we say let us restructure
Nigeria, we are not just speaking big grammar, these are the practical terms we
are talking about. A few days ago, the governor of Zamfara resigned as chief
security officer and preferred to be governor because he has no control of the
agencies to enforce security in his state.
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