The Plateau Patriotic Front (PPF) has called on the authorities to probe the explanation given by the national secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Bello Gotomo, on the recent killings on the plateau.
The group’s National Secretary, Bello Gotomo, while addressing journalists after the Association’s National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, as widely reported by the media, declared that the attacks would continue due to what he described as persistent injustice against herders in the state.
Reacting swiftly, the Plateau Patriotic Front (PPF), a socio-political group, condemned the remark, describing it as “an open admission of complicity in the violence that has claimed thousands of lives across Plateau’s rural communities.”
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Mani Imman, the PPF called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Gotomo, stating that by his declaration, he has effectively confessed that MACBAN members were responsible for the killings.
“Mr. Gotomo’s comments are not only reckless and inflammatory but amount to an open confession. He has taken responsibility on behalf of his members for the bloodshed in Plateau State. We therefore call on the security agencies to immediately arrest and investigate him. No individual or group should be allowed to make such dangerous utterances without consequences,” the PPF said.
Gotomo had stated, “Whenever our people are killed or their cows rustled, and nothing is done by the authorities, they are compelled to seek justice in their own way by attacking the communities where the wrongs were committed.”
The PPF thus charged that Gotomo should be invited to help direct authorities to the communal crisis he claimed has caused the killings in the state by suspected herders.
The group called the claims by the MACBAN scribe “insensitive and provocative, and such utterances could embolden perpetrators and escalate tensions further.”
The group further called for “an urgent, coordinated action by security forces, government authorities, and community leaders to stem the tide of violence and hold accountable those who incite or participate in bloodshed.”
