By Kula Tersoo
Makurdi
Benue state House of Assembly yesterday called on the, Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, to “immediately effect the arrest of the leadership of the Cattle Breeders under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore for treason and inciting public unrest” in the state.
The Speaker, Mr. Terkimbi Ikyange, gave the ruling after a debate on a motion of Urgent Public Importance moved by the Majority Leader, Barrister Benjamin Adanyi, who drew the attention of the House to the uncomplimentary remarks made by the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore during a media conference.
Adanyi explained that their comments amounted to treasonable felony, saying it had become clear that the attack on Benue communities was not as a result of the quest for grazing, but an agitation to take over the state.
It would be recalled that the National President of the Association, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello and Secretary, Engr. Saleh Alhassan, on Tuesday addressed a World Press Conference in Abuja where they not only kicked against the Anti- Open Grazing Law recently enacted in the state, but vowed to mobilise their members nationwide to resist the implementation of the law.
The group also erroneously attributed the herdsmen/farmers crisis in the state to the struggle for natural resources and laid claim to being the real inhabitants of the Benue Valley.
Ikyange equally mandated Governor Samuel Ortom to lead a high powered delegation, comprising all the senators and members of the House of Representatives from the state, the Speaker of the House of Assembly and other prominent indigenes, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari to brief him on the grievances of the state as contained in the publication.
He, however, urged the people of the state to remain calm and law abiding “in the face of this provocative outburst of the Fulani cattle breeders,” saying “government will not fold its arms and watch a Fulani Association intimidate and harass them in any way.”
The House also condemned the spurious allegations and threats made by the leadership of the MACBAN, describing it as “being capable of breaching the peace in the state.”
Ikyange said the Assembly “will support the Governor to fully implement the Open Grazing Prohibition Law,’ adding that the law “is aimed at protecting both farmers and herders contrary to the allegations of the leadership of the cattle breeders.”
