Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has blamed the porous Nigerian borders for the invasion of the country by killer herdsmen.
The position of the group was made known at a press conference by its Assistant National Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi.
According to him, the country’s borders are porous and that gives free entry and exit to people who are not Nigerians.
His words: “In Nigeria, our borders are porous, people come in anytime and go out anytime they want, in fact it is a shameful thing today that we don’t even know those that are indigenous Fulani.
“We don’t know and that is why people mix things up, you begin to suspect the Fulani man that you grew up with when anything happens. He has not travelled far; where did he get the AK 47?
“It is either Nigeria opts out of the ECOWAS Protocol or we should apply the conditions. We should ensure that for anybody coming into the country, we know when he is coming, where he is going and control what they are coming with.
“Another problem we have that you people don’t know is that, these migratory Fulani that come into the country with all forms of weapons, many at times they come in with less than 50 cattle, but when going back they go with thousands of cattle rustled from our own Fulani, so our economy is also affected.
“One other issue we need to understand is that, some of these countries that Fulani come from in Africa have crisis, like Chad or the Central African Republic, where there is rebellion. Weapons have become like sachet water or bread, so people from there see it as normal to hang AK 47.
“So, it is left for the government to do the right thing, let us decide who comes in because it is our country, let us decide the terms for the entry. We should not because of ECOWAS Protocol, leave everything to fate; that is not going to help us.”
