Politics
MIYETTI ALLAH: Presidency not in its right senses, Bakare says
The Presidency has been lambasted for attempting to compare Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) with the Yoruba and Igbo socio-cultural bodies, Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The attack on the Presidency was launched by the Serving Overseer (SO) of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare.
Bakare said that it was not only shameful for anyone to compare Miyetti Allah with Afenifere but that the person who did the comparison cannot be in his right senses.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency said it will continue to engage groups such as the Miyetti Allah, Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo in dialogue as part of the search for solutions and peace in the country.
But during his sermon in his church in Ogba, Lagos State, Bakare wondered how the Presidency could compare a group “rated as the fourth most deadly group in the world by the United Nations, a group of terrorists” with the Afenifere.
“It is shameful for anyone to compare Miyetti Allah with Afenifere. Such person cannot be in his right senses to think that Miyetti Allah and Afenifere and Ohanaeze are the same.
“How can a group that has been rated as the fourth most deadly group in the world by the United Nations, a group of terrorists, be the same as Afenifere?
“How can a group that kills people, rapes women, destroys houses be on the same scale as Afenifere? Do Afenifere members carry weapons?”, he asked.
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According to the cleric, the Presidency’s exclusion of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) from the comparison was intentional and intended to place northern group above Yoruba and the Igbo groups.
“And to show the true colour of the person doing the comparison, he left out the ACF from his comparison as if that one is above everybody else.
“If you have to put Afenifere and Ohanaeze on the same scale as Miyetti Allah, why did you exclude the ACF? Is it not to tell everyone that the ACF is superior to other groups in the country?” he said.
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