The National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Ngelzarma, has firmly rejected claims that the association is linked to criminal activities. Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday, Ngelzarma said such accusations stem from a deep misunderstanding of MACBAN’s structure, membership, and mandate.
According to him, individuals involved in herder-related violence are often wrongly assumed to be MACBAN members, even though many operate within separate pastoralist groups and splinter factions.
“MACBAN does not represent any criminal activities; we are never a criminal group,” he said. “We are an association duly registered in 1986 by General John Shagaya when he was Minister of Internal Affairs. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, is our Chairman of the Board of Trustees. We never represent any criminal activities in this country.”
Ngelzarma explained that MACBAN is just one among about 30 pastoralist groups in Nigeria, but because it is the largest and most structured, the public often assumes every herder belongs to it. This, he said, fuels false narratives about the organisation’s involvement in nationwide security challenges.
He stressed that pastoralists operate within a survival system rooted in pastoralism, not criminality. Many, he noted, are uneducated in modern livestock management techniques, which complicates the search for solutions to recurring farmer–herder conflicts.
“Whoever is trying to designate MACBAN as a criminal group does not understand anything about MACBAN,” he said. “We have partnered with USAID, Search for Common Ground, and other humanitarian organisations for years to mitigate the crisis with farmers and modernise production systems.”
Ngelzarma also revealed that MACBAN members have themselves suffered devastating losses due to banditry.
“We lost about eight of our state chairmen to bandit attacks. This year alone, our state chairman in Kwara was killed in his house. Another in Katsina was assassinated; his wife and daughter were taken away,” he added.
As the debate around pastoralism and national security continues, MACBAN insists its mission is peaceful, structured, and focused on livestock development—not crime.