JALINGO – The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has appealed to the Inspector General of Police to establish an Anti-Cattle Rustling unit to check the lingering cases of cattle theft in the country.
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, is a Cattle Breeder Association.
Its National Secretary, Alhaji Sale Bayari, made the plea when he spoke with newsmen in Jalingo on Saturday.
He said cattle theft was the root cause of most of the violent clashes involving herdsmen.
“We have severally called on the police to establish anti-cattle rustling squad because we have been at the receiving end of cattle theft for 12 years in this country.
“It is worrisome to see the frequent invasion of herdsmen villages and their cattle stolen and converted to personal use.
“When criminal activity of this nature becomes an order of the day, there is a need for stiffer measures against it.
Bayari said that cattle were not only a sacred gift from God to the herdsmen, but also a source of livelihood.
“A Fulani is sensitive to the cattle as it is his generational and ancestral wealth. Therefore, tampering with the cattle is as well tampering with a generation of Fulanis’ yet unborn.
“But in spite of all these, we always call on our people not to take law into their hands in cases of cattle rustling but to report the matter to constituted authorities,” he said.
Bayari added that the association was in support of measures against law offenders’ weather they were herdsmen or not.
“We have severally said that anyone who violates the law weather Fulani or a farmer, the law should take its cause.
“We have already told the All Farmers Association of Nigeria that any Fulani man found encroaching farmers land should be reported to us.
“Miyotti Allah will trace, discipline and compel him to pay compensation,” Bayari said. (NAN)
