The State Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ibrahim Galma, has denied any involvement of their members in the killings of people in Benue rural areas, insisting that the acts were purely the handiwork of criminal elements.
Galma said, “The insecurity is quite a serious one because our members, too, are affected. We are also affected and facing similar challenges in all ramifications – our people are killed, our animals are also being killed.
“The insecurity going on in Benue is purely criminality and not herders responsible for the act.”
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On the issue of ultimatum handed to herders to vacate farmlands in the state, the MACBAN Secretary said it was directed at bandits and not law abiding herders like them, noting that it was normal for those rearing cows to leave the farming communities at the onset of every rainy season.
“These days, it is because of climate change that the herders decided to settle around riverine space spanning through Agatu, Gwer West, Makurdi and Guma areas, among others. I think the traditional councils are asking for the cattle to vacate farms and notfor herders to leave the state.
“As we speak, we are here (Benue) with our wives and children. So, there is no cause for alarm,” Galma said.
Retired Comptroller of Prisons, Chief Iorbee Ihagh, stressed the need for Governor Hyacinth Alia to liaise with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu so that he can give directive to the military to clear the Benue area of bandits for farmers to return to their farms while the internally displaced persons go back to their ancestral homes.
Ihagh, who is also President General of Mdzough U Tiv (MUT), an umbrella body of the Tiv people worldwide, said that the only way out of the present insecurity in the state was for the federal government to issue a directive to security agents to drive invaders away.
Similarly, a retired officer of the Department of State Services (DSS), Orgem Angulum, has called on the government to urgently reclaim communities in Benue State that have been occupied by outlaws, to enable people live peacefully in their villages while displaced persons return to their ancestral homes.
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