Atiku is Miyetti Allah’s chief financier, says Unongo, NEF Chairman

<header class="amp-wp-article-header ampforwp-title" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><h1 class="amp-wp-title" style="font-size: 1.5em; margin: 16px 0px 13px; text-align: center;"> <br /></h1> </header><div class="amp-wp-article-featured-image amp-wp-content featured-image-content" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 2px; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1000px; padding: 0px;"> <figure class="amp-wp-article-featured-image wp-caption" style="margin: 0px;"><amp-img alt="Atiku Abubakar" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image amp-wp-enforced-sizes i-amphtml-element i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined i-amphtml-layout" height="406" sizes="(min-width: 640px) 640px, 100vw" src="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/21135042/Atiku-Abubakar.jpg" srcset="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/21135042/Atiku-Abubakar.jpg 640w, http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/21135042/Atiku-Abubakar.jpg 300w, http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/21135042/Atiku-Abubakar.jpg 30w" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; width: 100vw;" width="640"><i-amphtml-sizer style="display: block; padding-top: 215.688px;"></i-amphtml-sizer><img alt="Atiku Abubakar" class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" decoding="async" src="http://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/21135042/Atiku-Abubakar.jpg" style="border: none !important; bottom: 0px; display: block; height: 0px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 0px;" /></amp-img><div class="wp-caption-text"> Atiku Abubakar</div> </figure></div> <div class="amp-wp-article-content" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div class="amp-wp-content the_content" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05) 0px 2px 3px; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 1000px; padding: 15px;"> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being the chief financier and most influential member of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, the apex body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He, therefore, called on Atiku, who is a prince of the Tiv Court, to caution the herdsmen, who have been slaughtering hundreds of people in the country.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Unongo said this during an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> The NEF Chairman said, “I am aware that the most powerful person in Miyetti Allah is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,who wants to be the next president. If they are fighting for power and Atiku wants to create problems for Buhari, I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> “The most powerful person who finances the Miyetti Allah is Abubakar Atiku and he is a prince of the Tiv Court. The Tiv gave him a traditional title, meaning ‘the biggest shade of  the Tiv people’.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> </div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> “This implies that the Tiv people should be able to run to Atiku who will protect them.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> This is the man who heads Miyetti Allah and is the greatest financier of this organisation.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He has more cattle than anybody in Miyetti Allah.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> “It is an establishment of the big people, a very rich group of Nigerians and they pack small boys to take their cattle all over the place and then buy all these arms to give herdsmen to go and kill people, and the government is doing  nothing!”</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> When asked if he was sure that Atiku was the most influential member of the Miyetti Allah, Unongo said the former Vice President told him personally that he was an influential member of the association.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He added, “I know, I got my facts partially from him regarding Miyetti Allah when I used to talk to him.”</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> When our correspondent asked Unongo if he had met with the former Vice President recently over the issue, the NEF boss said it was very difficult to see him.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> </div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He said, “Have you tried to see a ‘big man’ before? I don’t like to wait at people’s doors. If you’re in government, yes, but when you’re not in government, it  shouldn’t be so hard to see you.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Atiku is my younger brother and he should come to me.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> “Anytime you go to his place, the people around him think you are there to collect money that they are sharing. So, I decided that I would not disgrace the NEF. I am not belittling him, but he is no longer in power and I deserve some respect.”</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Unongo also berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for treating the Fulani herdsmen crisis with kid gloves.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He said he had been warning the President for nearly three years about the crisis but that the President’s “insensitive” advisers had been deceiving him into thinking the matter was a small one.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> </div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> The NEF chairman said that many of the President’s aides had been preventing him from seeing the President and telling him the truth about the issue.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Unongo, who is both Tiv and Fulani, said, “The President is not happy about what is happening, but his insensitive advisers have deceived him into thinking this is not a serious issue, which they keep saying they can handle, but it has now festered to a level where it is difficult to take care of.”</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> The NEF chairman said it was unfortunate that despite the several threats made by the Fulani herdsmen after the antiopen grazing law came into effect, the government failed to take action.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> He said, “Miyetti Allah threatened and said upon the implementation of the law, they would attack in January violently and force the withdrawal of the law. I don’t understand. It didn’t make sense at the time, but it means that perhaps the Miyetti Allah wanted to prove to the people and the government of Benue State that when they make a promise, they keep to it.”</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Benue and Ekiti states had both enacted anti-open grazing laws to check the activities of herdsmen, while Ondo, Cross River, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states have also moved to have anti-open grazing laws to check the activities of the nomadic pastoralists.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> However, the former Vice President said that although he is a Fulani, he was not a member of the Miyetti Allah.</div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;"> Atiku stated this in his reaction to the allegations levelled against him by Unongo</div> </div> </div>

Atiku is Miyetti Allah’s chief financier, says Unongo, NEF Chairman

Atiku Abubakar The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being th...

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