The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore socio-cultural organisation says herdsmen in the country will support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, over his promise to address the issue around the Livestock Intervention Programme.

Miyetti Allah said the herdsmen will equally support Tinubu after the APC presidential flag-bearer promised to retrieve 450 grazing routes across the country if elected as president in the 2023 general election.

It would be recalled that the Livestock Intervention Programme was introduced by the Federal Government to address the farmer-herder crisis across the country after the suspension of the controversial Rural Grazing Area Scheme, also known as RUGA.

However, the Miyetti Allah Secretary-General, Saleh Alhassan, in an interview with PUNCH, said the herdsmen in the country endorsed Tinubu for the 2023 presidency following his promise to defend the interest of Fulani pastoralists.

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Alhassan said: “We have absolutely endorsed Tinubu for the presidency. We were there in the forum. This was based on the manifesto of the APC’s candidate. We felt our interest is better protected in the Tinubu/Shettima presidency. It was a unanimous endorsement of the candidature of Tinubu.

“Tinubu gave us the commitment to ensure the implementation of the National Livestock Development Plan of the current administration of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, where they will ensure the modernisation of the livestock sub-sector and address the issue of cattle rustling and kidnapping allegations between herders and farmers.

“We will have more ranches and exotic breeding grounds across the country and the gradual sedentarisation of the nomadic herders. This is what we are looking for in the Tinubu/Shettima presidency.

“The 450 grazing routes, the majority of which are located in the North are the starting points of any modern ranch one wants to build in this country. Those are areas provided for herders to do their business for cattle rearing.

“If one wants to start any form of modernisation, Nigeria should begin from the grazing routes which were dedicated for livestock farmers in the First Republic. We cannot build ranches on nothingness, and the issues of land have to be put into serious consideration. This is what Tinubu has promised to address,” he stated.

The Star