Miyetti Allah can’t be above the law, says Ortom

The Benue state government has said that the threats of violence by the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore’s has confirmed the fact that the group is responsible for attacks on farming communities in parts of the country.

Also, the attitude of the group’s leaders, the governor stated show it is determined to reject any method of animal husbandry that does not agree with nomadic cattle breeding and are poised to sponsor violence in states not willing to donate land for open grazing.

According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Terver Akase in a statement released in Makurdi, utterances such as those of the National President of Miyetti Allah, Alhaji Abdullahi Bodejo are inciting and direct invitation for anarchy.

The governor according to his media adviser affirmed that no group should be above the law to be dictating to states on how to accord preference to it at the expense of other Nigerians.

“We call for the arrest and prosecution of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore president for persistently making statements capable of stirring crises in the country.

“Bodejo in the same media reports had singled out Governor Ortom for vilification, saying the governor has been playing politics with the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law to win sympathy and gain advantage,” the statement added.

Bodejo, according to Akase also accused Gov. Ortom of killing Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria and demanded that the governor apologizes to them, vowing that Fulani will never allow the Benue state law on ranching to stand.

“We find the statement not only as a real threat to peace, but also as prelude to another round of attacks on Benue communities by herdsmen militia.

“This is the same manner the group threatened in May 2017, a few days after Gov. Ortom signed the ranching law that they would mobilize their members across West Africa to invade Benue and resist implementation of the legislation.

“They carried out their threat on the eve of 2018 new year when their armed militia murdered 73 innocent persons, destroyed property worth millions of naira and displaced over 500, 000 people in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas,” the statement said.

Akase emphasized that as a state, Benue will not take the current threat by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore lightly, saying the law of the land is sacrosanct and must be obeyed by everyone and that any individual or group who wants to breed animals in the state should be prepared to ranch them.

On the order given to states by Bodejo to carve out land for grazing reserves/Ruga settlements, Akase advised the group to exclude Benue state from their list as there is no land for open grazing in the state.

Police arrest 72 robbery, kidnap suspects in Bauchi

The statement said Nigerians, irrespective of place of origin and ethnicity who wish to do lawful business in Benue state are encouraged to do so as the Ortom administration is willing to collaborate with investors in different sectors of the economy, just as the state government is committed to supporting security agencies to guarantee peace in all parts of the state.