HE Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ ad Abubakar III, has
called on the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of
Nigeria (MACBAN) to help find a lasting solution to the issue of banditry and
kidnapping in the country.

The Sultan expressed displeasure that some Fulani children are still
involved in banditry and kidnapping, adding that he cannot sit and allow the
country to go into fractions.

He spoke at the inauguration and swearing-in ceremony of the new national
executive officers of MACBAN, held at the National Mosque, Abuja.

The threat to divide the country, Sultan said, is because of certain things
Nigerians are not doing right.

He said: “People do not want to know the history of this great country. If
we had known the history of the Fulani movement in various parts of the world
definitely, we would not have gotten to the situation we are in now.

“Everybody knows that Fulani moves from point A to B. They move everywhere
and they inter-marry. And we are peace loving. But how did we come to the
situation we are in now, we find our children who are Fulani, but not all of
them Fulani have been involved in banditry and kidnapping. What happened?

“When we meet with the executives we will discuss how to tackle this. How do
we resolve them because it is high time we did.

“Because, we cannot sit down and look at this country and go into fractions
just because of certain things we are not doing right. And I assure you
that two major challenges to these new executives are constitutional
amendments.

“Over 48 years of this MACBAN, we need to have some new input and new ideas
into the constitution. We need funds to sustain our activities. We used NDLEA
to test all the aspirants of drugs and they passed the test.”

The President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
(NSCIA) urged the executives to reposition the association to address the
emerging contemporary challenges confronting the Fulbe within and outside the
country.

“MACBAN by its reach across the entire Nigeria and the Sahel should aspire
to be a balance factor to the instability in Nigeria and across the Sahel.

“MACBAN could do this in articulating a Fulbe perspective in response to the
present level of violence as a natural reaction to deprivation, marginalization
and balkanization of the Fulbe into different nation states in West Africa.”

He, therefore, enjoined the executives of MACBAN along with Fulbe Civil
Society Organisations, NGOs and stakeholders to come up with an education policy
that recognises and reflects the peculiar requirements of the Fulbe in the
knowledge-driven of the 21st century.

Also, Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe enjoined the new leadership of the
association to adopt a new approach to addressing farmers and herders clashes.

The governor also emphasised the need for the new executives of MACBAN to
address incidence of social injustice among its members.

Sultan: Nigeria must not be divided over banditry, kidnapping

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