The Miyetti Allah cattle breeders association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has today dumped the APC and endorsed the PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and the governorship candidate for Taraba State, Dickson Darius Ishaku and other PDP candidates as their choice in the forthcoming general election.

The leader of the group and Northeast Chairman of Miyetti Allah Mafindi Damburam said that they had decided to endorse the governor and the PDP presidential candidate “as a mark of good fate following his decision to step down the law for a long time to avoid the unnecessary bloodbath it could have caused” and asked the governor to address some of the issues the herdsmen earlier raised against the law.

Damburam said that the decision of the state’s chapter of the Miyetti Allah to endorse President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of the APC in the state as against their Choice of the PDP candidates did not portray a crack in the MACBAN but served to deepen democracy.

Gov Ishaku said that the ongoing confrontation with the group in the state over the Open Grazing Prohibition law was not only unnecessary but also retrogressive for the group and the state as a whole.

He said that “the return of the Fulani groups to join in building a stronger state shows that they have realised his good intentions and are reneging on their earlier antagonistic position like the prodigal son” and promised to carry them along while ensuring that “we create an enabling environment for effective take off of ranching in the state as soon as I am returned”.

Our correspondent recall that the MACBÀN had earlier in the day endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of the APC in the state Alh Sani Abubakar Danladi as their candidates in the forthcoming general elections.

•Sourced from a BusinessDay report