Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) comprising Fulani cattle herders is spoiling for a showdown with Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
They are angry with him over the introduction of the Ekiti Grazing Enforcement Marshals (EGEM),a vigilance group tasked with ‘arresting’ cows found invading and damaging farms in the state.
The association branded Fayose’s action unscrupulous and targeted at “our members who are bona fide citizens of the country.”
Baba Othman Ngelzarma, spokesman for the group in a statement yesterday said, “the anti-malu vigilante group shot five cows and carted away the meat but the herdsman was able to flee with the rest of his cattle.”
Continuing, MACBAN said: “As far as we know, Ekiti State is not an island of its own , but a state within the Federal Republic of Nigeria and while the Governor is permitted to carry out actions geared towards protecting the interest of Ekiti State, such actions should follow the rule of law.
“We deplore this act of brigandage and call on Governor Fayose to offer an unreserved apology to MACBAN, and equally set machinery in motion with a view to compensating our members who lost five cows in this primitive adventure.
“That the brutality of the Ekiti Grazing enforcement marshals (popularly known as Anti- malu) on herdsmen is even outside the time stipulated by that law (if the law exists at all).
“The federal government should therefore look into the actions and activities of this committee because we cannot fold our hands while the only means of survival of our members is taken away and destroyed.
“We are hereby constrained to implore the federal government through its security agencies to wade into this unprovoked and primitive aggression against our members, before this macabre incident develops into unquenchable inferno involving our members and Ekiti State government.
