The Zonal Chairman of Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, (MACBAN) South-East chapter, Gidado Siddikki, has claimed that its members are being detained without trial at different correctional centres in Anambra State.
Siddikki also alleged that some of its members have been labelled as kidnappers, armed robbers and clamped into detention by the police for over five years without trial.
He stated these while briefing journalists in Awka yesterday, just as he appealed to the Anambra State government through the Ministry of Justice and the prison authority in the state, to look into the matter, with a view to putting an end to the development.
Siddikki said, “The leadership of MACBAN in the zone is currently sad about the way herdsmen are been dehumanised and labelled kidnappers and armed robbers in the region.
According to him, “So many of our people have been in the prison yards for more than five years without the state government looking into their case file or giving them a trial. All this hatred is caused by some disgruntled elements living with the Igbo who do not like Fulani in the region.
“Wherever they see a Fulani man, because of the hatred, they will report him to any nearest police station via a weighty allegation, whether he committed the offence or not; and the Police will arrest him, charge him to court, and afterwards, the herder will be dumped inside the prison yards and their file kept in court custody without trial.
He further said, “That is why, on behalf of MACBAN South-East, I am appealing to the Anambra State government, through the Ministry of Justice and the Prison Authority in the state, to look into the matter, so that our people that are in prison custody will either be freed or sentenced according to the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, after trial.
“The association stands on its position that any Fulani herder who is caught in any criminal act in the course of discharging his legitimate business will be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the association”.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Anambra State government through the Press Secretary to the Governor, Christian Aburime, proved abortive. However, when contacted on the telephone, the Public Relations Officer of Prisons Service in the State, Frank Kez, denied the allegations by the group.
Also reacting, the State’s Police Command Spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said, “It is not true. The police don’t have the capacity to detain someone for over five years without trial as alleged”.
