TheCable

‎The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has blamed the activities of killer herdsmen on the federal government’s inability to secure the nation’s porous borders.

It said the lax security at the borders has encouraged the free entry and exit of foreigners in the guise of herdsmen “who now attack communities across the country”.

‎The group made this known at a press conference held in Kaduna on Saturday.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, the assistant national secretary, said, “It is a shameful thing today that we don’t even know those that are indigenous Fulanis or the transhuman Fulanis.

“That is why people mixed 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.”

‎He added that in a bid to curb the influx of “foreign herdsmen,” Nigeria should either “opt out of the ECOWAS protocol which allowed free movement among member countries or introduce certain criteria for foreigners coming into the country”.

According to him, “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 people don’t know is that these migratory Fulanis that come into the country, come with all forms of weapons, sometimes they come in with less than 50 cattle, but when going back they go with a thousand cattle, rustled from our own Fulanis here. So our economy is also affected.

“One other issue we need to know again is that some of these countries that Fulanis come from in Africa have crises, like Chad or central African Republic were there is rebellion. Weapons have become like pure water or bread, so people from there see it as normal to hang AK 47.”