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Did Miyetti Allah threaten to burndown South east?



By Okechukwu Onuegbu

Claim: South east will boil any moment from now because of their stubbornness-- Miyetti Allah

Conclusion: Fake news

Full text
A blog post by Akelicious, published on June 4, 2019 says “ South east will boil any moment from now because of their stubbornness-- Miyetti Allah
“Early this morning according to the leader of cattle breeders in Nigeria. He expressed his shock on how serious the governors of South East has been in their refusal to give them their lands for cattle rearing. Leader of the group, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, in a statement issued  in Abuja, said the decision was surprising to them considering the cordial relationship that had existed in the zone between the group and the five state government.
“He said that, since they are claiming to be stubborn, and had refused to give us their lands in peace, it will be taken by force and entire south east will be raided and taken over by herdsmen.
“He said Miyetti Allah had never failed to appreciate the commitment of the host governors in ensuring their safety, even in their rational insistence that their people must not infringe on the rights of indigenous farmers to cultivate and harvest their crops without any hindrance. He also mentioned that it's an insult that the Igbos do not value anything that has to do with cow only their business and money and yet they eat cow meats.
“Siddiki said: “It is evident that our organization’s advocacy for peaceful coexistence among indigenous farmers and herdsmen is increasingly making successes in the South East. “This explains our surprise at the latest stand of the governors, which, if implemented, will not only frustrate our people from carrying out our legitimate livestock rearing business in this part of the country, but might be suggestive of a kind of suspicion that might undermine the mutuality of the claim of brotherhood.
“We are mindful if the various negotiations and consultations still going on in respect of the contentious issues of ranching, colonies and grazing areas across the country, we are hopeful that these issues are considered dispassionately in the interest of Nigeria and the generality of it’s citizens.
“We of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria, south east zone, consequent upon the existing understanding we enjoy with our hosts, and in response to the latest stand by the south east Governors forum, wish to reaffirm our confidence in the capacity of our host governors to encourage the growth of our legitimate trade in their geo political zone.
“It is a very trying period in the history of Nigeria and it is our candid view that the south east whose citizens are the major bonding elements among the people of Nigeria, would provide exemplary leadership in accommodating other Nigerians in their midst, in so far such persons are legitimately engaged in their economic pursuits.” The South East governors had at the weekend in Enugu, during their meeting, agreed that open grazing by the cattle breeders would not be tolerated in the zone by any reason.”

The above post went viral and was also published by different blogs under different headlines. Among them are Community.biafland, Nairaland and others. On Akelicious blog, the post gathered 68 comments, 3.4k share on facebook and so on as at 4.24a.m (on June 15). It is still been shared on WhatsApp and other social media platform despite a counter report published by traditional media houses like Punch, Dailypost.ng, etc.

Verifying the story: IT IS FAKE NEWS

The aim of this fact-check is not to establish if South East people truly don’t allow herdsmen enjoy freedom of movement or residence because there are no state in the zone without gariki (where Fulani resides and sell their cattle. From there, herders travel to the hinterland as well). The fact-check is rather concerned with possibility of the claim especially the headline coming from the leader of MACBAN as reported by the blog. It also wants to establish if the report is recent as published by the blog. In doing this, the following findings were made;

First, it was discovered that only blogs published the claim. Akelicious, the main publisher of the story seemed to be one of the propagators of fake news because of several unedited and people copyrighted materials it publishes without reference (or stating where those reports were sourced from). Besides, the blog is neither registered nor run by a registered company in Nigeria. It also, has no physical/identifiable address in Nigeria except phone numbers.

Similarly, there is no notable or traditional media house that publishes the report. Most of them like Punch, Dailypost.ng, and others rather published a rebuttal from Siddiki (the man quoted of making the claim). Again, from first to fourth paragraphs of the story say “the leader of cattle breeders in Nigeria,” “the leader of the group, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki,” leaving its readers confused on actual portfolio of the speaker. Please, note, there is no record of ‘Leader’ of MACBAN but a National President. He is Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa. Alhaji Gidado Siddiki is the group’s Southeast Chairman. Does Siddiki function as both its National leader and South East leader? No!

Also, the story where the claim was made has no byline (no name of author attaches to it). Also, Google image reverse machine shows that the picture attached to the story is not that of Siddiki (Southeast Chairman) but that of Secretary General, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Ngelzerma as published by Channels TV on May 25, 2016. Similarly, the story was not well structured; from its supposed lead to the end, are full of grammatical and typographical errors. There is no conventional or traditional medium which can publish such a story.

Why the story is fake news or a ridiculous made-up claim!

In our research, we found that Punch newspaper published a similar report on July 12, 2018 under the heading, Miyetti Allah tackles South-East govs for rejecting ranching. Authored by Tony Okafor, Awka, the Punch report says, “The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria on Wednesday described the rejection of ranches by South-East governors as shocking and lack of discretion. “The South-East leader of the group, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, stated this in a press statement in Awka, Anambra State. He said the group least expected such decision from the Igbo who he described as “the major bonding elements among the people of Nigeria.”
“He added, “It was surprising to us considering the cordial relationship that had existed in the zone between us and the state governments.” Siddiki said Miyetti Allah had never failed to appreciate the commitment of the host governors in ensuring the safety of his members.”
The South-East Governors’ Forum had at a meeting in Enugu on Sunday unanimously agreed not to donate land for ranching in the zone. But Siddiki in his statement said the governors’ decision did not show exemplary leadership. He said, “It is our candid view that the South-East whose citizens are the major bonding elements among the people of Nigeria would provide exemplary leadership in accommodating other Nigerians in their midst.
“It is evident that our organisation’s advocacy for peaceful coexistence among indigenous farmers and herdsmen is increasingly making successes in the South-East. “This explains our surprise at the latest stand of the governors which would not only frustrate our people from carrying out our legitimate livestock rearing business in this part but might be suggestive of a kind of suspicion that might undermine the mutuality of the claim of brotherhood. “We are mindful of the various negotiations and consultations still going on in respect of the contentious issues of ranching, colonies and grazing areas across the country, we are hopeful that these issues are considered dispassionately in the interest of Nigeria and the generality of its citizens.”

Among the media houses which published the Punch 2019 story were Businesstorch, Saharareporters, and Abiaonline. Thisdaylive published a supposedly reply to that report issued by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Therefore, it could be concluded that Akelicious lifted parts of the report published by Punch in 2018; recast the headline mischievously, as well as added some lines to suit him.    

 

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