Fulani Socio-cultural organization, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has condemned herdsmen attacks and killings in Benue State.
The body apologized to the state Governor, Samuel Ortom and the entire state over the killings and pledged to ensure peaceful coexistence between herdsmen and farmers moving forward.
National Secretary of the association, Saleh Alhassan, made the apology during a peace initiative brokered by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, on Saturday.
Alhassan described Governor Ortom as a peace-loving man who stood firmly for the emancipation of his people.
He also assured that members of the group would embrace the peace initiatives put forward by the governor.
In a press statement issued at the end of the meeting by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Terver Akase, it was said that the governor told the Miyeitti Allah group that the enactment of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law by Benue State Government was to end the killing of innocent people and encourage ranching as the global best practice for animal husbandry.
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Ortom stated that any person or ethnic group wishing to rear livestock in the state was free to acquire land and do so according to provisions of the ranching law of the state.
The governor also noted that the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law protects both farmers and livestock owners, adding that legislation was not meant to promote crisis of any kind.
Onyema had earlier emphasised the need for peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders in Benue State, saying he personally brought Alhaji Saleh to broker peace between Miyetti Allah groups and the people of the state.
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