We Are Victims – Miyetti Allah Fires Back At US Over Report On Fulani Militants

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has dismissed reports linking it to armed militants and bandits across the country.

Naija News earlier reported that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom had claimed that about 30,000 armed Fulani militants operate in different parts of Nigeria in groups ranging from 10 to 1,000 members, and described them as major drivers of religious freedom violations.

However, in a statement on Friday, MACBAN National President, Baba Ngelzarma, asserted that the community should not be collectively blamed for criminal activity.

He said the figure does not reflect the Fulani population in Nigeria and warned against profiling an entire ethnic group based on the activities of criminal elements.

Ngelzarma insisted that the 30,000 militants and bandits cited in the report “do not, and will never, represent the 14.5 million peaceful Fulani citizens of this country.”

According to him, rather than being linked to violence, many Fulani pastoralists are themselves victims of insecurity, including cattle rustling, kidnappings and retaliatory attacks.

“As MACBAN has posited in several reports and statements, law-abiding pastoralists are themselves primary victims of these criminal syndicates, routinely suffering from cattle rustling, mass abductions, and retaliatory violence,” the statement read.

The group stressed that it would not protect or excuse anyone involved in criminal acts, adding that it remains committed to supporting security agencies in tackling insecurity across the country

“MACBAN will not shield, make excuses for, or tolerate any individual or group engaging in violent criminality,” it stated.

MACBAN also said it had directed its state and zonal chapters to strengthen intelligence-sharing with security agencies and traditional rulers to help track and flush out criminals hiding in rural and border communities.

“We are actively directing our zonal and state branches to formalise and deepen closed-door intelligence-sharing channels with federal security forces and local traditional rulers.

“We pledge our full cooperation to help law enforcement detect, isolate, and flush out criminal elements using our forests and borderlands as cover,” the association added.

The association condemned terrorism, banditry and killings across the country, regardless of who is responsible, and urged Nigerians to avoid ethnic profiling in addressing insecurity.

It warned that generalising criminal activities to an entire ethnic group could worsen tensions and undermine national security efforts.

MACBAN also called on the government and development partners to support reforms in the livestock sector, especially ranching, as a long-term solution to conflicts linked to open grazing