Atiku Abubakar accused of being Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria's biggest financier

FORMER vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has been accused of being the major financier of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) the Fulani herdsmen's body accused of being behind numerous murders across the country.

Over recent years, Fulani cattle herdsmen have been no the rampage across Nigeria, attacking farming communities and killing hundreds in a spate of bloody clashes. Heavily-armed with AK47 assault rifles and machetes, these herdsmen belong to Macban, which has often defended their actions, saying they act in self defence.

Yesterday, Paul Unongo, the chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, accused Alhaji Atiku of being the chief financier and most influential member of Macban.  He then called on the former vice president, who is a prince of the Tiv court, to caution the herdsmen, who have been slaughtering hundreds of people across the country.

Mr Unongo said: “I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I don’t know but there are so many possibilities.

“The most powerful person who finances the Miyetti Allah is Abubakar Atiku and he is a prince of the Tiv Court as the Tiv gave him a traditional title, meaning the biggest shade of  the Tiv people. This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them."

He added that apart from being the man who heads Miyetti Allah, Alhaji Atiku is the association's greatest financier. Furthermore, Mr Unongo pointed out that the former vice president has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah.

“It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place. They then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people and the government is doing  nothing," Mr Unongo added.

Mr Unongo also berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government for treating the Fulani herdsmen crisis with kid gloves. He said he had been warning the president for nearly three years about the crisis but his insensitive advisers had been deceiving him into thinking the matter was a small one.

According to the NEF chairman, many of the president’s aides had been preventing him from seeing President Buhari and telling him the truth about the issue. Mr Unongo, who is both Tiv and Fulani, said it was unfortunate that despite the several threats made by the Fulani herdsmen after the anti-open grazing law came into effect, the government failed to take action.