2019: MIYETTI ALLAH splits over buhari’s endorsement

Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has suffered a crack over its
endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019 presidential
election.

MACBAN had on Thursday at its 2018 Annual General Meeting in
Abuja, endorsed the President’s re-election bid and promised to
mobilise 20 million votes for him because of what it termed the
numerous achievements recorded by his administration in
infrastructural development, youth employment and security.

But, some concerned leaders and members of the group, yesterday,
dissociated themselves from the purported endorsement. The splinter
group said the so called endorsement was done without consultation
with members of MACBAN and therefore cannot hold. In a statement
signed by one Alhaji Danburam Mafindi, the group argued that if the
leadership of MACBAN had come out to support the President in their
personal capacities they wouldn’t have been bothered, but expressed
worry that the endorsement was done on behalf of all members
without consultation.

The statement read in part: “The endorsement allegedly by MACBAN
is worrisome as there was no such initiative nor discussions or
agreement by the Board of Trustees, National Executive Council of
the association or a unanimous decision by any congress of the
association. It was an executive fiat that was imposed by the
president of the association and few other members.

“It is important to note that MACBAN as registered by the
relevant regulatory agency is a non partisan association that is
not allowed to indulge in partisan political activities. It is
therefore a clear violation of laws as stipulated by the Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC) as covered with registration number RC.
NO- 3500 “This endorsement is putting the noble objectives of the
association into jeopardy and is a trigger for chaos as it has the
potential of causing disenchantment among many of our members with
diverse political inclination. Our teeming members are not in
agreement with this endorsement and it therefore null and void. It
has no basis in any conscious discourse as it is a deliberate
attempt to trample on the inalienable democratic rights of our
members.

“There is no way an association that is faced with the enormity
of challenges as faced by MACBAN today would come out and give an
express endorsement for a candidate without recourse to our
existing realities as herders in the country. We reject this
endorsement in its totality and it therefore stands null and void.
“We call on the leadership of MACBAN to come out clean and explain
what informed this ‘Greek’ endorsement as it has come to us as a
surprise! Politicians should be wary of such endorsement as it has
no value to add to their fortune whatsoever.

Only the endorsers stand to benefit. We are therefore calling on
our members to come out en mass to exercise their democratic right
by electing candidates of their choices in the forthcoming
elections. Don’t allow anybody to intimidate you into submitting
this God-given right. Follow your conscience and vote for
candidates you believe can deliver on your expectations.”
Meanwhile, a cross section of pro-Northern groups and individuals,
who spoke with our correspondents on the issue, said though it is
the right of Miyetti Allah to endorse any candidate it wishes, its
action will not sell President Buhari to the entire North. Arewa
Youth Conservative Forum (AYCF), which spoke through its president,
Yerima Shettima, said the situation in the North does not warrant
any endorsement of the present administration or President Buhari.
Shettima said those who endorsed Buhari only collected money to do
so, adding that the endorsement will not sell in the North.

His words: “We cannot continue to do one thing over and over
again. Pretence and lies cannot take us anywhere, you cannot
hoodwink people. What happened in 2015 cannot happen in the North
again because the North has come of age. So, we cannot be bulldozed
by this attitude of giving money for endorsement at the expense of
our vision. “The present situation in Northern Nigeria is nothing
to write home about.

The issue of insecurity and killings is so high in the North,
more than any other part of the country. So, people have decided
that they cannot continue doing one thing over and over again. The
endorsement is a hard thing to sell in the North today. “The
endorsement is only for those that can be bought over because the
All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government has enough money
to throw around. It is natural that you begin to hear reactions
just the way it happened in Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Some
individuals will just sit down and endorse Buhari. The same thing
happened even in Afenifere; we are seeing a macabre dance, but on
the D-Day, there will be surprises.” Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko
Yakassai, who also spoke on the issues, said Miyyetti Allah,
endorsed President Buhari because he is its grand patron. He noted
that Buhari has never hidden his closeness with the group and as
such the endorsement was not a surprise. “He (Buhari) had been
their grand patron, what the endorsement shows is that the
relationship with them is still very much intact. He has also never
denied his closeness with the group,” he said. Secretary of Yoruba
Councils of Elders (YCE), Dr. Kunle Olajide, who corroborated,
Yakassai, said: “We have always known because we were told that
President Buhari was the grand patron of Miyetti Allah since he
assumed office.

So, in any case Miyetti Allah has been part of his constituency.
So, to me I don’t see anything new. “But my anxiety is that in
spite of the killings, herdsmen crisis, kidnapping of people for
money and destruction of farms, among others, President Buhari is
yet to say anything. But it is not surprising that they endorsed
him. “Ordinarily, the endorsement should have been a minus because
serious minded people will now begin to wonder why the President
has been silent on the herdsmen crisis as I don’t think it is going
to have any impact in 2019.” Spokesman of pan Yoruba group,
Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, who described the endorsement as a
political strategy, said it might be in return for the President’s
support for the group. His words: “May be they want to deliver a
herd of cows; it is a strategy of sort by Miyetti Allah in return
for President Buhari’s support, but it is an awakening call for
Nigerians. If Buhari is re-elected, we have not seen anything yet.
So, none Miyetti Allah members should rise against it.” National
Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-West, Dr.
Eddy Olafeso, who also spoke with Saturday Telegraph, said Miyetti
Allah’s promise is an indication of Buhari’s linkage with the
group.

He charged Nigerians to sift between the wheat and shaft to see
who is actually interested in the development of the nation and the
party that is interested in its continued decimation. “Buhari came
into office on the crest of revamping the economy, ensuring
security and fight corruption, but what is the situation today?
Zamfara is in turmoil; our soldiers are killed daily in the
North-East even as herdsmen continue to rampage in the Middle Belt
and the South. The economy is in comatose as over 20 million people
have lost their jobs.” But, the National President of the Nigeria
Traders Harmonized Union, Dr Bature AbdulAziz, who said that
members of Miyyeti Allah are entitled to endorse a candidate of
their choice, averred: “Miyyeti Allah are of Fulani extraction and
are true Nigerians who have right to vote and be voted for and as
such have right to endorse a candidate of their choice .”

Bature, who reminded Nigerians that Miyyeti Allah was not the
first group to endorse Buhari or the presidential candidate of the
PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, added: “There is no big deal about the
endorsement; only enemies of Buhari are trying hard to turn it to
an issue.” Secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony
Sani, on his part, said: “As I have said over and over again, the
two major presidential candidates, namely, President Muhammadu
Buhari and former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, are from the North
and Fulani Muslims. As a result, any endorsement cannot reasonably
be on politics of identity, but based on what such group believes
can serve the country better. But, we must note that in democracy,
what matters most is majority, which has both its say and way,
while the minority only has its say.

“I do not know the electoral values of the Miyetti Allah and the
extent of their group goal, group cohesion, group coherence and
even group conspiracy, especially when regard is paid to the fact
that Atiku is also of Fulani ethnic extraction and also a Muslim.
As a result, I cannot predict the effect of the endorsement on the
outcome of the elections. But I am happy with the level of
political awareness, and hope those groups, which endorse political
parties will mobilize their people to make judicious use of their
democratic rights and ensure that votes count, so that the emerging
leaders will be accountable to the people.”