We’ll graze wherever we want, say herdsmen

Herdsmen in Nigeria say they will graze in whatever part of the country they want, as it is their right guaranteed in the constitution.

They said this to PUNCH in reaction to agitations by groups which asked them to vacate the southern part of the country based on indiscriminate attacks.

Nuru Abdullahi, chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Plateau state, said Fulani herdsmen could not be “deprived” of their constitutional right of freedom of movement.

“Why would they ask them not to go to the southern part of the country? It is their constitutional right to move freely as guaranteed by the laws of the land,” he said.

“What the various governments and security agencies should do is to prevent attacks and counter-attacks and such things that breed violence like cattle rustling and trespassing into farmlands.”

Also, Ardo Suleiman, the chairman of the Miyetti association in the north-west, said herdsmen should not be criminalised over the attacks.

Suspected herdsmen have killed more people than Boko Haram insurgents in 2016.

Last week in Enugu, several people were killed in an attack.

The police, who had earlier denied the attacks were carried out by herdsmen, detoured and admitted people in Enugu were killed by herdsmen.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Solomon Arase, the inspector general of police, have ordered an investigation and prosecution for those found guilty.