Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has tendered conditions southern presidential aspirants must meet to earn its support for the next presidential election in 2023.
Southern politicians aspiring to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in office have recently been jostling around consulting with stakeholders and their supporters over their respective ambitions.
Former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu; his Imo counterpart, Rochas Okorocha; Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi, former senate president, Anyim Pius are few of the presidential hopefuls that have gone public with their declarations.
Others are Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Sam Ohuabunwa, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and Dele Momodu, Ovation publisher.
Speculated to have interest but are yet to publicly declare are: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senator Orji Kalu; Governor Kayode Fayemi, former president Goodluck Jonathan and former presidential spokesperson Doyin Okupe.
In an interview with Sun Newspapers, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, said any of the aspirants from the South, where power is expected to shift to, must apologize to the Fulani extraction over the alleged maltreatment of his kinsmen.
Mr Bodejo also said such an aspirant will show the willingness to resuscitate old grazing routes which the Buhari administration vowed to revive but has yet to, as at press time.
He also said it would be difficult for any southern state governor who assisted in enacting anti open grazing bill in their domain to earn his group’s support for the presidency.
“If you hate Fulani and 2023 is approaching and you are coming to ask for our support, which role have you played to support the Fulani cause, whether as a sitting vice president, senator, governor?” he asked. “If you are a sitting governor, what have you done for the Fulani in your state? All these people running around to be president are apostles of anti-grazing laws.
“For any aspirant who wants our support, he must have a firm commitment to bringing back all the grazing reserves which transverse the entire country, build houses, provide water and other amenities in the grazing reserves, and allow our people to do their businesses freely in the South. Such grazing reserves should be gazetted.
“However, I don’t see any of them coming because of their mindset against the Fulani. We are not asking for tarred roads, and other things in the cities, we are just asking for grazing reserves. You are not the one to teach us how to do our businesses. While you are in your mansion, our own mansion is the bush,” he added.
The Miyetti Allah official also distanced his group from a similar one that endorsed the candidacy of Mr Tinubu, saying Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) is for Nigerians while his group consist of only members from the Fulani extraction.
“Maybe MACBAN members want to go into politics or they want to turn their association into a political party,” he noted. “It doesn’t concern me. They are free to endorse or support Tinubu, he is one of them. MACBAN is very different from ours.
“MACBAN comprises members from different tribes who are into cattle breeding. Anybody from any place or tribe can be their member. But ours, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore is purely a Fulani socio-cultural organisation; it is just for the Fulani ethnic group and it is not open to any person from another tribe.”
