The National Secretary of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, made the appeal while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday on the position of the association to the crisis between farmers and herdsmen across the country.

Ngelzarma said the decision was the position of members reached at the end of its National Council meeting.

He said no fewer than 1,000 of its members including women and children have been killed and 20,000 cattle rustled between June 2017 and January 2018 during crises in various states.

The National Secretary called for the setting up of a Federal Judicial Commission of Inquiry to access the killings in order to unravel the truth and offenders.

“We call on the government to pay compensation to victims of all crises to reduce their level of suffering.

“If the government accepts that, it is left for them to establish a committee that will go and access the level of damage.

“We have a document of members that were affected by the pastoralists in the North-East but what we discovered is that none of them were captured in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) programme because they are not sedentary.

“Let the government compensate. That will help calm the situation very well,’’ he said.
Ngelzarma, who said the association had over 20 million registered members and no fewer than 50 million cattle, regretted that they were the most neglected farmers in the country.

He appealed to the Federal Government to set up a Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to attend to the multidimensional needs of the industry.
Ngelzarma said the association welcomed the current resolve by the Federal Government to address the lingering crises, adding that dialogue was the solution to tackling the menace.

“We submit ourselves for any positive participation to restore mutual and harmonious relationship in the country.
“We dissociate ourselves from any other group or individual that is out to foment trouble in the country.

“We demand for immediate disarmament of all illegally armed militias across the country in the interest of peace, security and stability,’’ he said.

Ngelzarma was accompanied to the briefing by the National President, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa and other members of the association from different states.

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The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, also condemned the tragedy and called for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.

Saraki, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, stated that the killing of worshippers was evil.

He called on security operatives to bring perpetrators of the crime to justice.

”Today, my heart goes out to Nigeria’s Christian community, Gov. Willy Obiano, the people of Anambra and the families of the victims and the survivors of this terrible massacre.

”This brutal act of attacking innocent and unsuspecting worshippers represents the purest kind of evil.

”Our security forces must not stop until everyone involved in the orchestration and execution of today’s massacre in St. Philip’s Catholic Church is brought to book by the strong arm of justice.

”The Senate will continue to offer assistance in this endeavour because today, all of us as Nigerians have been attacked by this senseless act committed by evil people,” he said.

Saraki further urged security agencies in the country to step up their intelligence activities to prevent activities of criminals.

He also called on security agencies to unravel any crime committed against Nigerians by undesirable elements in the society.

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