Ekiti Anti Graze Law: Miyetti’s Opposition, Assault On Yoruba –Afenifere

Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has said last weekend’s outburst by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) against the Anti-Grazing law in Ekiti State is “considered an assault on Yoruba people and will be treated as a terror threat until an apology is tendered.”

MACBAN’s spokesman, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, said enforcement of Ekiti State’s Anti Grazing Law (can) “develop into unquenchable inferno…capable of creating uncontrollable scenarios whose ramification may go well beyond Ekiti State.”

Publicity Secretary of ARG, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, in a statement, described the purported MACBAN’s opposition to the law as deceitful and that the alleged threat from MACBAN is an “open threat against the people and government that accommodates your business interest.

“MACBAN has always exonerated its members from herdsmen’s vicious crimes, blaming it on ‘foreigners from other countries.’

“Sanity, therefore, prescribes that MACBAN should be happy for the enactment of such law that will ensure genuine cattle breeders are not stigmatised by these criminals from other countries.

“The new law, being first of its kind, may not be perfect and its enforcement may not be smooth initially.

“The responsibility, therefore, lies on major stakeholders to organise sensitisation workshops for its members so that the new law can achieve its objective of stemming crisis arising from herdsmen-farmers relations.

“MACBAN has so far shunned this democratic approach and preferred to use intimidation and warring tactics and languages.

“But, the right of governors, as chief security officers of their respective states, to make laws consistent with the culture and rights of their people, cannot be wished away by intimidation or threat.

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“We recall that in 2013, the Hisbah Police in Kano reportedly destroyed more than 20,000 crates of beer bottles.

“Despite the freedom of movement and trade guaranteed by the Constitution, what mattered then was that Kano did not want beer within its jurisdiction – even though it hypocritically shares from the Value Added Tax (VAT) generated from sale of alcohol in other states.

“Why should governors of northern states have the freewill to protect their people and religious disposition, while their southern counterparts are subjected to intimidation? Nigeria is not a slave camp of any ethnic nationality and MACBAN’s statement is, therefore, considered an assault on Yoruba people and will be treated as a terror threat until an apology is tendered.”