Satguru Maharaj Ji, the founder of One Love Family, has responded to the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) for their call to President Bola Tinubu to arrest and prosecute Yoruba nation advocate, Sunday Adeyemi, also known as Sunday Igboho, on charges of treason.
Maharaj Ji, also labeled the Miyetti Allah as “terrorist sympathisers”. He supports Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba nation advocate, in his mission to eliminate armed Fulani herders from the South West.
Maharaj Ji criticizes MACBAN for calling for Igboho’s arrest and prosecution, viewing it as a display of support for terrorists. He believes that only those who sponsor terrorists would oppose efforts to eradicate them. Maharaj Ji fully backs any patriotic groups willing to wipe out terrorists, even if they are herders. He condemns the mass killings committed by armed Fulani terrorists between 2015 to 2023, accusing then President Muhammadu Buhari of turning a blind eye to the situation.
In a statement released to Sunday Independent, Maharaj Ji reminded that Igboho had returned to Nigeria with the intention of eliminating armed herders residing in the deep forests of the South West who have been attacking farmers and traditional rulers.
Maharaj Ji stated that MACBAN’s call was consistent with their character, noting that during the eight-year tenure of former President Buhari, the association was notorious for supporting the terrorism of armed herders.
Labeling MACBAN as “terrorist sympathisers”, Maharaj Ji remembered that on June 26, 2018, the association supported terrorists who slaughtered hundreds of natives in Plateau State, justifying the attacks on some communities in Plateau State as retaliation for the killing of 300 cows belonging to its members.
Maharaj Ji also remembered that around the same time in 2018, suspected herdsmen attacked Riyom, Barakin Ladi, and Jos South local government areas of the state, resulting in over 100 deaths.
He added that Miyetti Allah’s statement was released even as fresh attacks on Kwi village in Riyom local government area claimed another life, despite the dusk-to-dawn curfew declared in the three local government areas.
Therefore, Maharaj Ji stated that it was not surprising when MACBAN called for the arrest and prosecution of Sunday Igboho for his threat to eliminate terrorists posing as herders and killing residents of the South West.
He expressed disappointment that instead of praising the Yoruba nation for volunteering to eradicate terrorists, MACBAN was showing its support for terrorists by calling for the arrest and prosecution of Sunday Igboho.
Maharaj Ji stated that it was clear that only those who sponsor terrorists would be upset when someone decides to eradicate terrorists.
He remembered that MACBAN’s National President, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, made the call in response to Igboho’s comments that Fulani herders should be removed from the Southwest or the whole of Nigeria if they are above the law.
He also remembered that Igboho, who recently returned to Nigeria after about two years of detention in the Benin Republic, had accused Fulani herders of killing farmers in the Southwest.
However, Ngelzarma described Igboho’s comment as an unlawful statement that amounts to treason. In a statement he signed, Ngelzarma said: ‘We call on the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and relevant security agencies to arrest and prosecute Sunday Igboho for making this unlawful statement that amounts to treason because he is asking for the actualisation of Oduduwa nation.
His statements are unlawful. If Nnamdi Kanu will be held behind bars for a similar offence, we see no reason why Sunday Igboho will be allowed to go scot-free without being arrested and prosecuted.”
However, Maharaj Ji described MACBAN’s stance as absurd, childish, irrational, and irresponsible, and stated that he fully supports Sunday Igboho and any patriotic groups willing to eradicate terrorists of any kind, “even if they are herders, because of the extensive damage and mass killings that these armed terrorist herders committed between 2015 to 2023 when then President Muhammadu Buhari turned a blind eye and allowed armed Fulani terrorists to unleash a reign of chaos and mass killings.
