The national secretary of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Saleh Alhassan, has blamed the ban on open grazing by some governors for the continous rise in banditry.
Mr Saleh made this disclosure when he featured on a roundtable organised by The Punch on Wednesday.
The Miyetti -Allah also criticised the governor of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, for his position on the relocation of herders.
It would be recalled that in January Dr Ganduje suggested the ban of movemenr of cattles from North to south as a way to ending the farmers /herders crisis.
The governor, also said his administration is already constructing a settlement with houses, a dam, an artificial insemination centre, and a veterinary clinic for herders in a forest near Kano’s border with Katsina.
However, in the interview with The Punch, Alhassan described the governor’s statement as cheap political talk if there are no provisions in place for the herders before inviting them to the state.
He also made a mockery of the governor by saying that putting such a plan in place is not as easy as “stuffing dollars” in one’s cloth. referring to a video where the governor was seen stuffing dollars in the babariga.
“Let him put in place the infrastructure. Kano is a semi-arid state. What has he provided even to the herders in Kano? Kano is a heavily cultivated area during the dry season. So, what alternative have you provided for the herders? It is not about cheap idle political talks. These are real issues,” Alhassan said.
“Like, I have the capacity to absorb 10,000 herders. This is what I have provided for them. This is where they will water their animals. This is where they will get their feeds. You don’t just come and say they should move to Kano. If they move to Kano, are they going to be in his government house? It is not stuffing dollars. I’m sorry to say that.
“The crisis of bandits in the north-west is because of some of the activities of the governors in the past. They put pressure on the herders. They lose their cattle. They have no business. Now, they have joined bandits. They are not spirits. They have reasons why they emerged. If you destroy grazing, you are going to create another problem. They destroyed their economy. They have no cattle and they got radicalised.
“Our members are peaceful herders. We have bandits; we have criminal elements in the forest. They are not necessarily herders. It is the responsibility of the security forces to identify the criminals, isolate them and deal with them according to the laws of the land. There are herders dwelling in the forest, doing their peaceful economic activities, which is cattle rearing.”
No Comment