Macban leader says recent attack in Plateau was in retaliation for the theft of 300 cattle

MIYETTI Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) leader Alhaji Danladi Ciroma has justified the recent killing of 86 people in Plateau State saying it was in retaliation of the slaughtering of 300 cows last week.

Yesterday, armed Macban Fulani cattle herdsmen attacked the villages of Razat, Ruku, Nyarr, Kura and Gana-Ropp in Gashish District in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, hacking 86 innocent people to death. Confirmed by the Plateau Police Command, the incidence has lead to the imposition of a curfew on the area and security has been beefed up.

However, Alhaji Ciroma, the chairman of Macban's north central zone chapter, has justified the attacks, saying that they were in response to villagers slaughtering 300 cattle belonging to Fulani herdsmen. He said despite the efforts of the state government, some criminal elements hiding among their people were still frustrating the peace efforts.

Alhaji Ciroma added: “These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of human being, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission.

“There have been recent reports of cow rustling and destruction of farms between Berom farmers and Fulani herdsmen and the people carrying out these criminal activities are well known to the communities but they are hiding them. Fulani herdsmen have lost about 300 cows in the last few weeks as 94 were rustled by armed Berom youths in Fan village, while another 36 cows were killed by Berom youths and in addition to that, 174 cattle were rustled and the criminals disappeared with them to Mangu."

He added that since these cows were not found, no one should expect peace in the areas. Alhaji Ciroma pointed out that even soldiers that went after the criminals to recover the rustled cows were shot by the armed rustlers, who eventually escaped with all the cows.

“The government of Governor Lalong has done a lot to restore peace but the criminal elements hiding among their people are the ones frustrating these peace efforts. Although the security agencies have tried, they need to do more by being fair to all parties and they should not neglect any report presented by the Fulani or Berom because such reports can lead to attacks and deaths if not properly handled.

“Criminals thrive a lot in Berom communities but when the Fulani, who are always victims of their crime, react with attacks, they blame the government. These communities have leaders, why hide the criminals? They should fish out the criminals and hand them over to security agencies to avoid death of innocent ones," Alhaji Ciroma added.

He pointed out that as of today, the Berom man cannot go to farm and the Fulani man cannot breed his cows in Berom land. Alhaji Ciroma added that this can be stopped if the security agencies do more than what they are currently doing, pointing out that the attacks will stop as soon as the security agencies stop Berom youths from stealing Fulani cows.