TheCable

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) says the explosion in Nasarawa state killed 31 herders and an unspecified number of livestock.

The explosion, suspected to be a bomb, reportedly went off in Doma LGA on Saturday.

Confirming the incident on Wednesday, Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa, said some pastoralists had gone to retrieve their livestock when the bomb exploded.

“Though it has to do with some Fulani who got to rescue their cows and after rescuing the cows, there was a bomb blast at the area where they gathered their cows to bring them back to Nasarawa state,” the governor had said.

In a statement on Thursday, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, MACBAN president, said the herders killed went to get 1,250 of their cows impounded by the Benue livestock guards.

Ngelzarma said the herders were made to pay N29 million for allegedly violating the anti-open grazing law in Benue state.

He said the explosion occurred after the herders retrieved their livestock.

“After paying, the pastoralists had hired vehicles from Makurdi to convey back their seized livestock to Rukubi, and it was in the process of offloading their livestock that an attack was conducted which killed 31 pastoralists, eight Hausa butchers from Benue who have escorted the vehicles to upload the cows and four others are now on admission in Lafia hospital,” he said.

“This is the third time we have experienced such happenings. In the last two happenings, it was clear that the Airforce is being involved in strafing livestock between the border of Benue and Nasarawa states within the last one year.

“But in the recent one, it is not clear whether it was a bomb blast, a distant attack or an airstrike as reported by our Nasarawa state branch.”

The MACBAN president said the relevant authorities should investigate and prosecute the culprits behind the explosion.

“Information available to us shows that the perpetrators must have been informed about the release of the livestock from Benue livestock guards custody to impose a double jeopardy on pastoralists lives and their assets,” he said.