The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Sunday expressed anger over reports that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has urged President Bola Tinubu to arrest and prosecute Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemi, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, for treason because he stated that he returned to Nigeria to help eradicate armed herders harbouring in the deep forests of South West and carrying out attacks against farmers and traditional rulers.

HURIWA said it is “very much the character of MACBAN because throughout the 8 years administration of Muhammadu Buhari, this same cattle breeders association was known for backing terrorism of armed herders.”

HURIWA, which described MACBAN as a terrorist sympathiser, recalled that on June 26, 2018, MACBAN backed terrorists who massacred hundreds of Plateau state natives when it described the attacks on some communities in Plateau State as an act of retaliation over the killing of 300 cows belonging to its members.

The rights group recalled that the suspected herdsmen had around June 26^th 2018 attacked Riyom, Barakin Ladi and Jos South local government areas of the state, killing over 100 persons, but Miyetti Allah’s statement came even as fresh attacks on Kwi village in Riyom local government area claimed one more life in the early hours of the same period in 2018 despite the dusk-to-dawn curfew declared in the three local government areas.

HURIWA therefore said it didn’t come to them as a surprise when MACBAN called for the arrest and prosecution of Sunday Igboho for threatening to wipe out terrorists masquerading as herders killing residents of South West but rather than commend the Yoruba nation for volunteering to eliminate terrorists, MACBAN was rather displaying its support for terrorists by calling for the arrest and prosecution of Sunday Igboho. HURIWA said it is unambiguous that only those who sponsor terrorists wouldn’t be happy when someone decides to eradicate terrorists.

The rights group recalled that MACBAN’s National President, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, made the call in response to Igboho’s remarks that Fulani herders should be expunged from the Southwest.

HURIWA recalled that Igboho, who recently returned to Nigeria after about two years of detention in Benin Republic, accused Fulani herders of killing farmers in the Southwest.

However, Ngelzarma described Igboho’s remark as an unlawful comment that amounts to treason.

In a statement he signed, Ngelzarma said: “We call on the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) and relevant security agencies to arrest and prosecute Sunday Igboho for making this unlawful statement that amounts to treason because he is asking for the actualisation of Oduduwa nation.

“His statements are unlawful. If Nnamdi Kanu will be held behind bars for a similar offence, we see no reason why Sunday Igboho will be allowed to go scot-free without being arrested and prosecuted.”

HURIWA however described the position of MACBAN as preposterous, puerile, irrational, and irresponsible just as the Rights group fully backs Sunday Igboho and any patriotic groups willing to wipe out terrorists of any dimension even if they are herders because of the massive damage and mass killings that these armed terrorist herders committed between 2015 to 2023 when the then president Muhammadu Buhari looked the other way and allowed armed Fulani terrorists to unleash a regime of mayhem and mass killings which the likes of MACBAN actively supported.

HURIWA carpeted MACBAN for being clever-by-half by bringing in the name of Nnamdi Kanu in its unwise call for the arrest and prosecution of Sunday Igboho even as the Rights group through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it is a notorious fact that former President Buhari arrested Nnamdi Kanu because the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra were actively spreading the story that the real Muhammadu Buhari had died and that a body double from Sudan was the one acting in his place. In the case of Sunday Igboho, he stated his resolve to wipe off terrorists. HURIWA thinks MACBAN tried to smuggle the name of Nnamdi Kanu in an unrelated matter to curry the sympathy of the South East. HURIWA however wants the MACBAN to know that Igbos are as victimised as the Yorubas from the incessant bombardments of their farming communities by terrorist herders which in any event is the reason why most Nigerians must back any initiative to curb the attacks of armed herders.

HURIWA recalled too that when the killings became worrisome in the South West and the Governors of the South West led then by the late Ondo state governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), decided to set up the Amotekun vigilante group, it was MACBAN and then president Muhammadu Buhari that kicked against the move and openly canvassed support for the occupation of forestry reserves by armed Fulani terrorists masquerading as herders. “So, we are not surprise that MACBAN is panicking as soon as Sunday Igboho returned to Nigeria after escaping for his dear life when then president Muhammadu Buhari made several attempts on his life including sending armed DSS and soldiers to attack Sunday Igboho’s Ibadan home killing many of his relatives during the night time attacks.

“HURIWA is 100% in support of any move by Sunday Igboho to eradicate armed herders from the entirety of South West and we are demanding that the security forces allow volunteers in the South East to similarly invade the forests of South East and wipe out armed herders hibernating in the South East going by the fact that the Nigeria Army recently supported Sunday Igboho’s remarks that he will take out all killer herders in the forests of South West.”

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