Group To Miyetti Allah: Freedom Of Movement, Excludes Movement Of Cattle
LAGOS JULY 25TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Group under the aegis of Malcolm Omirhobo Foundation has stated that the right to freedom of movement enshrined in the Nigerian constitution which Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore is relying on to ask the Fulani herdsmen to stay where ever they are in Nigeria to defend themselves as well as fight for their fundamental right to freedom of movement is only guaranteed to Nigerian Citizens and not to their Cattle.
The group, in a statement signed by its Coordinator Barr. Malcolm Omirhobo made available to NewsRangers.com argued that it is repulsive and a disservice to humanity for Nigerians to fold their arms and keep quiet while Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani interest group and some ignorant and illiterate persons dubiously and mischievously misinform Nigerians on the Country’s history and laws with the aim of causing unnecessary civil strife .
“We must start by saying here that the right to freedom of movement enshrined in the Nigerian constitution which Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore is relying on to ask the Fulani herdsmen to stay where ever they are in Nigeria to defend themselves as well as fight for their fundamental right to freedom of movement is only guaranteed to Nigerian Citizens and not to their Cattle,” the statement explained.
The statement pointed out that while imagining the negative effects the call of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to Fulani herdsmen to defend themselves and their fundamental right to freedom of movement would cause on a Fulani Radio broadcast, where converse views cannot and will not be understood, they advise Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to stop disseminating falsehood and be bold and honest enough to own up to the systematic ethnic cleansing and other crime against humanity being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen unabated against the various indigenous peoples within Nigeria.
“The last time we looked at the history and laws of Nigeria we realized that apart from the fundamental right to freedom of movement which the Nigerian constitution guarantees to all Nigerians, the same constitution also guarantees all Nigerians the fundamental rights to life, dignity of their persons and personal liberty, private and family life, freedom from discrimination and right to own landed property which makes it unlawful and illegal for anybody to take the life of another on the bases of the dispute of ownership or use of land, kidnap, rape or sodomize or dispossess others of their land by coercion.
“Every Nigerian has the right to move to any part of Nigeria and reside there but then such a person must be law abiding to the local and State authorities.
“The over 370 indigenous peoples within Nigeria are guaranteed their right to continue to own their ancestral land which makes it a trespass for any Fulani herdsman to enter into other people’s land to graze their cattle without the consent of the land owners.
“Cattle owners are duty bound under the law not to allow their animal stray and in the process cause harm to other peoples’ lives and properties.
“ By law when stray cattle destroys another person’s crops or farm produce or property the owner of the cattle is liable under the law to pay damages and/or compensation to aggrieved person.
“None of over 370 ethnic groups with over 250 languages and cultures is superior or above the others.
“The pastoralist culture of the Fulani ethnic group is not allowed to be imposed on the culture of other ethnic groups in Nigeria.
“The Fulani herdsmen are not stopped from establishing ranches whereas their opportunistic attachment to land is unreasonable, repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience and unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.
“The Colonial Government did not own Nigeria land mass and when they were decolonizing Nigeria they returned the country to the indigenous peoples within Nigeria whom they took the land from and did not leave any grazing area for the Fulani herdsmen,” the group stated.
The Foundation clarified that freedom of movement should not to be misunderstood and misapplied by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore because it does not connote or allows for trespass to land and or nuisance to the owners of the land.
It maintained that Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore must understand that where the right of one person stops that of another begins, stressing that when you purposely, deliberately and violently encroach on the rights of others in the name of freedom of movement, you are liable for damages or held liable for a crime or both.