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Miyetti Allah wants to set up vigilante group in South East, as governors give conditions

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Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) on Thursday said it was planning to set up a Fulani Youth Vigilante body in the South-East.

The herdsmen leadership in the South East explained that the vigilante group would complement other security bodies in the zone.

MACBAN made this demand during the South-East Security Summit organized by the South-East Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (SECCIMA) in collaboration with South-East Governors Forum (SEGF) in Enugu.

National president of MACBAN, Alhaji Mohammadu Kirowa, at the meeting regretted that once insecurity was mentioned in Nigeria that Fulani herdsmen are always the first to be blamed.

Kirowa, who was represented by the national secretary of the herdsmen body, Alhaji Baba Usman Ngelzerma, commended South East for being accommodative, adding that it was for that reason MACBAN has often condemned all forms of violence and criminality in the same way northern leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano and the Lamido of Adamawa had always done.

However, the leadership of herdsmen said it has plan to establish a Fulani Youth Vigilante group, which would work with security agencies, the neighbourhood watch or vigilante to ensure security in all communities, as was done in Enugu State.

Kirowa added, “We will solicit your support and cooperation in adopting dialogue where problems exist as a means of brokering peace and to report cases against our members to either the Fulani Youth Vigilante Group, state or local branch of the association.”

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Responding, chairman of South-East Governors Forum and governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi said, “We will continue to accommodate the Miyetti Allah but our plea to them is that as we are magnanimous to allow settlers, every community has a custom that needs not to be violated. It is the violation that breeds problem.

“I believe that at the end, resolutions will generate further national dialogue, promote agenda-setting and a solution to the lingering national insecurity. All we need is the good idea of one or two men to find direction and I believe this summit will do that.”

Umahi was represented by his deputy, Dr. Kelechi Igwe.

Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo president general, Nnia Nwodo, is said to have frowned at MACBAN security plans in the region, vowing that the people would resist the proposal.

He wondered how herdsmen who allegedly have been ravaging farms in Igboland, raping women and slaughtering their husbands, would be allowed to establish a vigilante group in South East.

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