‘Herdsmen are victims of negative stereotyping’

Miyetti Allah endorses Buhari for 2019 polls

By Nsikan Ikpe

The Miyetti  Allah Cattle  Breeders Association of Nigeria,  MACBAN has declared that Nigeria’s herdsmen are victims of negative stereotyping, bigotry and xenophobia and not the killers that they have been popularly made out to be in the public eye.

The group also announced its support for the re-election bid of  incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

The endorsement came during the Association’s  5th General Meeting held in Abuja on Thursday.

Alluding to the fact that the decision was taken as a pay-back gesture of sorts, the National President, MACBAN, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa, ”no administration had looked into our plight the way  President Buhari has done since the inception of the association.”

Specifically, Kirowa lauded the President on the significant steps taken by his administration to revive grazing reserves across the country, which he admitted had impacted directly on the lives of his members.

“We appreciate government’s programmes aimed at transforming the social lives of Nigerians through empowerment, agricultural development particularly the livestock sub-sector where pilot programmes of developing water and pasture in long-neglected grazing reserves have commenced,” Kirowa added.

Speaking on the same occasion, the  National Secretary, MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, urged members of the association to be law-abiding and also avoid friction with others as well as utterances that were capable of causing chaos in the country.

He equally charged the media to avoid labelling herdsmen as ‘killers and unwanted citizens.’

“MACBAN frowns on the sensational and negative stereotyping of herders, who are doing legitimate economic activity that contributes to the gross domestic product of the country and are ensuring food security,’ he affirmed.