During the 2023 presidential elections, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has stated that herders will not support any southern candidate who opposes open grazing.
Saleh Alhassan, the group’s spokesperson, claimed this on Tuesday during an interview with PUNCH Online.
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The 17 Southern governors have taken a stand against open grazing and signed laws prohibiting it, citing security concerns supposedly posed by herders’ actions in their states.
The anti-open grazing bill has been signed into law by the governors of Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, and, most recently, Delta and Ogun states.
The Miyetti Allah group, in response to the law’s passage in the southern states, condemned it as “satanic” and “politically driven,” threatening to sue the governors.
Alhassan also said that the southern governors’ decision was aimed at negotiating the presidency for 2023 with their 19 northern counterparts, who had objected to the South’s power transfer.
When asked if his group would support a northern candidate after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year term ends, Alhassan said, “Our concern is not where the President comes from, but we certainly know those that we cannot support; those that want to destroy our means of livelihood, we would campaign against them.”
We are unconcerned about the President’s origins, but we do require a capable nationalist to succeed Buhari. We don’t need people with sectarian feelings; those who believe they can impose exclusive economic policies, who believe their zones should be given priority, who want to control the VAT and undermine our traditional way of life.
The governors can say whatever they want, but the votes ultimately decide who becomes President.
We would never endorse (Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, Rotimi) Akeredolu as a southern candidate because he is supporting the devastation of our rural economy. We would never support somebody like them. We would not back anyone who associates with Biafrans.”