The Coalition of Pastoralists Associations of Nigeria, or CPAN, has drawn the Federal Government’s and the international community’s attention to the predicament of herders.
At a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the organisation said that the Nigerian state and other tribes are attempting to ruin cattle-rearing companies and drive out the Fulani.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, Tabbital Pulaaku International, TPI, and Jonfe Jam Youth Development Association of Nigeria are all members of CPAN.
Other organizations include the Fulbe Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN), the Bandiraku Fulbe Youth Development and Rights Initiative (FGRDI), and the Farmers and Hunters Initiative for Peace and Development (FHIPD).
Baba Othman Ngelzarma, President of MACBAN, stated that the most efficient approach to oppress a group of people is to destroy their sources of income.
The CPAN leader accused the authorities of allowing the cattle-rearing industry to “fall down the drain” as a result of natural and man-made calamities.
He claimed that, backed by the “conspiratorial silence of government,” many Nigerians, particularly sub-national groups, have established a culture of hatred of Fulani and their activities.
Ngelzarma emphasized that global warming, which has severely impacted Lake Chad, has driven herders to relocate to southern Nigeria in search of water and food for their animals.
“While the Nigerian government has not lifted any finger to recharge Lake Chad and make it habitable for our people, it has watched helplessly as different towns and countries regard the Fulani as irritants.
“Obnoxious laws are enacted by state governments. They prohibit open grazing while failing to provide infrastructure for alternatives. They confiscate our cattle, arrest our citizens, and fine them exorbitant amounts.
“In practically every state, the Fulani have been the focus of stereotyping, ethnic cleansing, and mass slaughter. “For unjustifiable reasons, the Fulani people have been the target of hatred and annihilation,” he said.
Last week’s slaughter of dozens of herders and butchers in Rukubi village, near the boundary of Nasarawa and Benue states, was condemned by CPAN.
While lamenting the fact that no high-ranking official has visited the victims’ families to console them, the MACBAN president also recalled similar airstrikes on innocent herders in Nasarawa’s Keana and Awe Local Government Areas.
The pastoralists demanded that the federal government conduct an expedient investigation into “herder killings, prosecute criminals, compensate victims’ families, and dissolve militia targeting Fulanis.”
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