The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBA) has said it has lost over 200 herdsmen and over 2 million cattle since the herdsmen menace started.
The Secretary-General of MACBA, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, stated this while speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme today.
“The herdsmen who are seen as peaceful people before this time, today, because of the negative profiling, and because of the political undertone that is attached to the crisis, everybody is seeing the herdsman as a criminal,” Mr. Ngelzarma said.
As regards the incidence in Benue state, he said “We value the lives of our members; every life in Nigeria is valuable. We also have our share of these killings”.
“Today we have lost over 2 million cattle in Nigeria as a result of cattle rustling. Who are the owners of those cattle? They are the herdsmen. The herdsmen are not spared by the security on the highway. The herdsman is not spared by the religious and political colouration of the crisis.
“The herdsman, the cow to him, is all he has. His entire life and that of his family is dependent on the cow. He lives in the forest with his wealth that is the cow.
“If he has any money, he lives in that forest with the money he has; he lives in the forest with his children, and wife, and everybody. So, no matter how daft that person is, you cannot expect to go and provoke trouble for him to get killed”.
He went further to say “All these senseless killings must stop; either from the pastoralists or from the communities”.
