The Congress of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria would meet to determine the political party and candidate to endorse for the 2023 presidential election, its Secretary, Usman Ngerzema, has said.
He also supported the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress for which its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, picked a former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate despite the national outcry.
The MACBAN Secretary was reacting to questions from Saturday PUNCH on which party it would endorse after the endorsement of the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in previous elections.
He said, “You know MACBAN is a combination of all interest groups. We have the APC, PDP, NNPP, ANPP and others. We have them in MACBAN. This decision has not been taken. The last time, it was a unanimous decision of the congress, we endorsed Buhari then.
But now, until the chips are down, then we can decide whether to take a position or we can remain neutral. So, this is the decision of the congress, not an individual decision or the decision of a member of the association. It has to be a majority decision of the congress before we decide on who to vote for.
Before that, we have to look at the manifesto, we have to look at what they intend to do for our members. We don’t even know whether we are going to do the endorsement or not, because that is the decision of the congress, whether to endorse who or what, the congress has to sit first and analyse and see.”
Ngerzema described as unnecessary the controversies over the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.
According to him, he does not give much concern about the controversies over the Muslim-Muslim ticket because, “people are amplifying it for political reasons; just like the way the Fulani are being stigmatised as criminals, while there is no society that you don’t have criminals”.
He said, “There are criminals in each and every tribe, in each and every society. But because Muhammadu Buhari is the President, the Fulani have become the battleground for politicians. Look at what the stigmatising is causing the pastoralists.
“I see these things as a strategy for those who want to win the election because there are a lot of states in Nigeria where you have Christian-Christian ticket and Muslim-Muslim ticket, and in those states, you still have a large population of Christians and Muslims; go to the South West and see.