Miyetti Allah Denies Threatening To Unseat Saraki

The national body of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association has dissociated itself from threatening comments made against Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s Senate president, by its state coordinator for Benue.

In an interview on Tuesday, Garus Gololo, the Benue state coordinator of the association had warned the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, to resign or be forced to do so.

In a statement signed by Othman Ngelzarma, the national secretary on Wednesday, the association said Gololo’s comments do not reflect the position of the association.

The statement reads, “The attention of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has been drawn to an interview granted by one Garus Gololo in Makurdi to Punch Newspaper titled ‘Resign or we will force you out’. Miyetti Allah to Saraki. This statement is unfortunate.

“I will categorically state that Garos Gololo spoke in his personal capacity and has no mandate to speak on behalf of the association. Miyetti Allah is a non-partisan association with no interest in the political terrain and we couldn’t meddle into the affairs of political actors thereby compounding our already obvious challenges. I therefore urge all and sundry to disregard this statement. This statement is not from MACBAN and should be disregarded in its entirety.”

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) meanwhile has given President Muhammadu Buhari 24 hours ultimatum to arrest the leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association that allegedly threatened to force Senate President Bukola Saraki from office if he failed to resign.

The Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC), are yet to respond to the controversy.

The PDP, in a statement Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Gololo’s statement echoes threats by the APC and the Buhari Presidency to force Saraki out of office since his defection to PDP.

“If anything, this unguarded statement by Miyetti Allah has exposed the synergy between the ruling party and some troublesome elements, who are being used to stoke division and create violent crisis that had resulted into daily bloodlettings in various parts of the country.

“It is now abundantly clear to Nigerians that those fomenting crisis including the bloody clashes in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Nassarawa, Plateau, Kaduna, Edo, Borno, Yobe, Enugu, Kogi, Adamawa and other states in our country, have political backers, who now want to channel them to achieve their unpatriotic quest to subvert our constitution and forcefully take over the National Assembly.

“Before now, to majority of Nigerians, the Miyetti Allah has always represented the military wing of the APC and the Buhari Presidency. It is incontrovertible that they have now become the fourth arm of government that can determine when and how to forcefully remove the number three citizen, the President of the Senate.

“It is common knowledge that Mr. President has come under heavy public criticisms on how his body language has condoned the unguarded utterances and actions of these characters.

“However, in the light of these treasonable and inciting utterances by Miyetti Allah, we demand that President Muhammadu Buhari, should within the next 24 hours, order the arrest and commence immediate trial of the leadership of this group, otherwise Nigerians will henceforth hold him directly responsible for the utterances and actions of the Miyetti Allah,” the statement reads.

Also former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday mocked the Presidency over its claim that President Muhammadu Buhari walked 800-metre as evidence of his fitness to run in 2019.

Abubakar, who is eyeing the presidential ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said he would work to create jobs for Nigerians and not build “illusion”.

The former vice-president was apparently responding to a claim by the Presidency that Buhari walked 800 metre from Eid praying ground in Daura on Tuesday.

Earlier the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, had last week said that Buhari was “too old” to rule the country beyond 2019.
It was reported that after the Eid prayers, Buhari shunned protocol and opted to trek some 800 metres, acknowledging cheers from Nigerians who lined up on his home route to catch a glimpse of him.
Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, had said that Buhari demonstrated his fitness to run for a second term by covering that distance on foot.
Reacting in a message posted on his verified Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, Abubakar lampooned the presidency, saying the claim was “pedestrian”.

“I regularly jog more than a mile and exercise, but it will be pedestrian of me to ask Nigerians to vote for me because of that,” he posted.

“I want my party – the PDP, and Nigerians, to vote for me because I WORK not because I WALK. I will work to create jobs. I won’t walk to create an illusion.”