The Peoples Democratic Party and the Coalition of United Political Parties have condemned the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria’s endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid for a second term in office.
The association’s endorsement came during its 5th General Meeting held in Abuja on Thursday.
The National President, MACBAN, Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa, had said the association’s decision to support the President was because “no administration had looked into our plight the way President Buhari has done since the inception of the association.”
But the CUPP’s first national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere, said while the endorsement did not come to the opposition political parties as a surprise, they were shocked that Buhari could accept such endorsement.
He argued that by accepting the endorsement, the President had proved that he was not concerned about the lives lost through the activities of some members of the association.
He added, “The endorsement did not come to us as a surprise. The next people that will endorse Buhari are Boko Haram members.”
The PDP also said the endorsement might be a way to show appreciation to the President for reportedly keeping quiet over the alleged killings the herdsmen had visited on innocent Nigerians in the past.
The action, it said, would remind Nigerians of the alleged killings of innocent Nigerians by the violent herdsmen.
Alhough the PDP acknowledged that some herdsmen “are not in support of the killings and forceful takeover of people’s land,” it said the President had never openly castigated the violent herders for the evil they had been visiting on innocent Nigerians.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke with one of our correspondents on Saturday, asked Nigerians to be ready for what he described as “tough time” with elections drawing nearer.
He added that the President might be claiming endorsement from individuals and groups without consulting them.
He said, “The so-called endorsement reminds us of many killings by the herdsmen which were never condemned by the President Buhari-led Federal Government. It also reminds of sorrows and cries by relations of those that had been killed.”