The National Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Benue State, Garus Gololo, has slammed presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, as a divisive figure.
Atiku had recently cautioned Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari, his opponent at the polls next year, is incapable of addressing the wanton killings carried out by herdsmen in the country and should not win re-election.
Atiku said if Buhari wins the 2019 presidential election, the killings will continue and likely escalate into a series of ethno-religious crises.
In reaction, Gololo said Atiku’s inciting comment is capable of dividing the country even before he’s president. He said the former vice president has a questionable track record as a politician and is not a credible candidate for the 2019 presidential election.
He said, “We Fulani herdsmen are not killers and before Buhari came to power, there were crisis between farmers and herders in Benue, Tarawa, Nasarawa, Adamawa and some other states. I am disappointed in Atiku because he had already divided Nigeria even when he has not come to power.
“Buhari has nothing to do with herdsmen, he is a Nigerian and it is the people of Nigeria that voted him into power and l believe they will still vote him again in 2019.
“Nigerians should ask Atiku about the N68.8 billion proceeds from NEPA which he sold when he superintended over the privatization process of the then NEPA.
“People should talk about the power plants or the money he raised from the sale of that public asset.
“As far as I am concerned, Atiku is not a credible candidate to contest the coming presidential election in Nigeria because he is so sentimental and if they vote him in as president, he would divide Nigeria the more.”
Gololo said Fulani herdsmen are not killers and have nothing to do with President Buhari who has been widely-criticized over his handling of the killings because he’s Fulani himself.
The struggle for economic resources like land and water between farmers and nomadic cattle herders, usually of the Fulani extraction but not exclusively, has led to a lot of bloodshed in the country this year.
Countless attacks have been attributed to herders after an escalation of simmering tension with local farming communities, tension that was worsened by the implementation of anti-open grazing laws in Benue and Taraba, two of the worst-hit states.