2023: We won’t support southern candidates who oppose open grazing – Miyetti Allah
One of the umbrella bodies
of herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, says herders won’t
support any southern candidate who is against open grazing should he or she run
for president in 2023.
Spokesman for the group,
Saleh Alhassan, spoke on Tuesday while featuring on PUNCH Online interview
programme.
Report say that the 17
Southern Governors, citing the security challenges allegedly posed by the
activities of herders in their states, had kicked against open grazing and
signed laws banning such to effect.
Most southern governors,
including those of Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa
Ibom, Enugu, and just recently, Delta and Ogun states, have signed the anti-open
grazing bill into law.
The Miyetti Allah group, while reacting to the passage of the law in the southern states, described it as ‘satanic’ and ‘politically motivated,’ adding that it would sue the governors over the law.
Alhassan also alleged that
the move by the southern governors was to negotiate the 2023 Presidency with
their 19 northern colleagues who have kicked against power shift to the South.
As the 2023 general
elections draw nearer, there have been intense political posturing, permutations
and fireworks.
The 17 Southern Governors
had met twice in the year and demanded power shift to their region while the 19
Northern Governors also met last week, opposing such move and noting that the
candidate with the highest votes will emerge as President in the next general
elections.
However, the Miyetti Allah
spokesman said his group won’t support southern governors or any southern
candidate who is against open grazing and who also oppose the collection of
Value Added Tax by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Asked whether his group
would back a northern candidate after the expiration of the eight-year regime
of the President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhassan said, “Our concern is not where the
President comes from but certainly we know those that we cannot support; those
that want to destroy our means of livelihood, we would campaign against them.
“We are not worried where
the President comes from but we need a competent nationalistic person to take
over from Buhari. We don’t need people with sectional sentiments; people that
think they can make exclusive economic policies, people that think their zones
should have more preference, they want to control the VAT, destroy our
traditional livelihood.
“The governors can say
anything but ultimately, the votes determine who the President becomes.
“If you say you are
producing (Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum,
Rotimi) Akeredolu as a southern candidate, we would never support him because
he is championing the destruction of our rural economy.
People like that, we would
never support them. We won’t support someone hobnobbing with Biafrans.”
Furthermore, the Miyetti
Allah group said there was nothing wrong with the Federal Government backing up
its intention to challenge the anti-open grazing laws signed into law by the
southern governors.
Umar Gwandu, the Special
Assistant on Media to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami, had said, “The
rights trampled upon are individual rights of Nigerians as constitutionally
guaranteed.
“The Nigerians whose rights
are violated reserve the right to approach the court for the protection of such
rights within the context of freedom of movement among others. It will be
viewed with that consideration in mind.”
Reacting on Tuesday,
Alhassan said, “There is nothing that is not supported by the government,
especially agriculture, billions are being given to smallholder farmers in the
rice value chain, in maize. So, there is nothing wrong in them (FG) supporting
us.”
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