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Miyetti Allah on the spot over Kankara boys
By John Eche
The release Friday of 334 abducted school boys from Kankara in Katsina State has put the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN on the spot once again, The Difference checks have revealed.
The group which is five decades old and had been established to promote the interests and welfare of essentially nomadic Fulani cattle grazers in the country has been known to be very loud and strident in projecting its views and positions in the country.
While some hold that the group has gone about its business in ways that are essentially civil and non-political, there are others who hold that the group has long gone beyond its primary brief as a trade association and that it has been known to dabble into political matters and in defending, if not promoting the extremist and violent activities of murderous herdsmen and bandits.
In the recent instance of the Kankara boys abduction and release, the group has been named by Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle as having helped facilitate the release of the abducted boys. This has prompted fresh calls for the need to properly define what the group is and indeed, how it carries on its activities.
The Miyetti Allah group had in the past donated a hefty sum to the second term campaign for President Muhammadu Buhari and opposed both the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Bill and the Amotekun Security services complementary arrangement of the South West region.
The Kankara boys had been taken by their kidnappers to Zamfara state before they were released and returned to Katsina. It is yet to be determined whether the Nigerian authorities would take any further action against the abductors but pressure is being mounted by some western nations, including the United States, for the abductors to be brought to book.
Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State
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