It has been reported that Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) in Ebonyi State are claiming that their members are being killed in their Ukwuachi forest settlement. However, what makes this a scary situation is that the Ezza, Izii, and Mgbo people who live around the Ukwuachi forest where the problem is developing are known to be an extremely war-like people who never ever give up when they feel that their rights are stepped on. Now, they have issued a tough response in a 7-point communique begging the Fulani to "start any trouble" and see how it goes. See the report and the response below:

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has raised the alarm over incessant attacks on herders in Ebonyi State, alleging that 10 herders were killed between June and September 2020.

The South-East Zonal Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the September 28 attack on a herders’ settlement in Ukwuachi Forest, Ishieke, in the Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state.

Siddiki said until recently, members of the association had enjoyed cordial relationships with their host communities in the state. He stated, “The Fulani people in the South-East are not violent and we are not here to undermine the business of the people of the area. However, we have experienced a lot of challenges in Ebonyi, including the death of our members. I am constrained to say this publicly. The government and security agencies have been doing their best to stop the attacks on our members and that is why we did not want to complain before now. If the situation has gone beyond what the security agencies in the state can contain, then we will be calling on the Federal Government for assistance so that it will not get out of hand.”

He said that it was worrisome that in spite of what the group’s members had suffered, some women were mobilized to protest against them.The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Loveth Odah, said some herders had been “at the receiving end of security threat.”
Odah said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Philip Maku, condemned the recent attack, which resulted in the death of two minors and ordered a manhunt for the perpetrators.“The police commissioner has ordered full scale investigation into the matter with a view to arresting the perpetrators who fled the scene after the incident,” she said.

Source: https://punchng.com/macban-alleges-attacks-on-herdsmen-in-ebonyi/?amp=1

And see the press statement released by a local group:

1. Why should the Fulani just enter any forest and settle there and insist that they have the right to settle there and no one (including the government) raises an eye-brow about it? Is this in accordance with the extant land laws in the country? Doesn't Ukwuachi Forest belong to some people? 

2. Why do the Fulani insist that right there in the forest where they are denying people of their right to their landed property, they themselves should have the full protection of the law? Do they not acknowledge the fact that where one person's right stops, another's starts? Why should they encroach on other people's rights so blatantly but expect no one to encroach on their own rights in any way? What else could be more unjust?

3. How come the Southeastern Leader of MACBAN said that the Fulani in the Southeastern Nigeria are peaceful whereas so many violent acts have been linked to them? Is this right? Right here in Ebonyi State, a Fulani herder was arrested by the Police in connection with raping to death of a Septuagenarian woman. But until this moment, no one knows the whereabouts of the abominably randy Fulani herder. It's such that most of us in the state suspect that the police only gave protection to the very abominable criminal under the guise of arresting him. This is in addition to Fulani killing hundreds of people in Izii, Mgbo, Enugu, etc. It is very provocative that none of these criminals has been brought to book. But it is even more provocative to hear someone who presides over the affairs of the criminals claim that they are peaceful. Ah, with all these atrocities linked to you, yet you are peaceful? 

4. Should the owners of Ukwuachi Forest allow the place to get infested with such murderers and abominable rapists who are obviously under the protection of the Government of the day? Should they allow more of their grandmothers to be raped by randy Fulani herders who would be sneeking out of their illegal hideouts from time to time without ever getting caught by the justice system? Should they allow Ukwuachi Forest to gradually become a semblance of Sambisa Forest? We are asking anyone who is listening and we require answers.

5. Why is it that, in spite of the Fulani's crass injustice against the people of Ebonyi State and South-East (as we have stated only briefly here), the police spokesperson Loveth Odah had the gut to say that the Fulani herders are the ones who have been "at the receiving end of security threat"? Are they really at the RECEIVING end or at the GIVING end of the security threat? Someone has to be mad here: Either Loveth Odah and her masters or we. Whoever it is, someone has to really be mad this time around. Or, do you expect mad people to behave like you? Certainly no.

6. Does anyone even realize the direct correlation between the activities of Fulani herdsmen and the food insecurity currently troubling the nation? Do you realize that many crop farmers are now scared away from their farms for the fear of getting killed by Fulani herders or of their labor getting wasted by their livestock? Do you see how Fulani herders have constituted themselves into a threat to everyone and yet they expect to be left alone? We are mainly crop farmers and Fulani herders are killing our children in their numbers by destroying our lives and livelihoods and desecrating the things we consider most holy in our cultures. 

7. So, we call on the Fulani to start any trouble in Ebonyi State. We promise to give everything to it since, no matter what we do, their threats keep coming. We have done everything to accommodate them in this state. But if what they want is war, we have who fights for us. David will meet Goliath again. Our history is punctuated with numerous challenges that we have overcome, and Fulani will be one of the least of them. Thank you.

Meanwhile, that line that says, "David will meet Goliath again" may have a lot of secret meaning attached to it. Apart from its allusion to a Bible story, it should be remembered that the current Governor of the state answers David.

Imagine them Calling it their settlement. These Terrorists must be sent packing to hell. If no be soldiers wey dey back una. Herdsmen for no fit last 24hrs in Biafra Land. Things will soon change. E go shock all our haters. Something sweet is cooking.

Why should the Fulani just enter any forest and settle there and insist that they have the right to settle there and no one (including the government) raises an eye-brow about it? Is this in accordance with the extant land laws in the country? Doesn't Ukwuachi Forest belong to some people?

Our government will not see it... Our nonsense journalists nko, they are waiting for anyone/police to be attacked and label it IPOB...

shame on this Fu*ked up country

HallaDaTruth:
Imagine them Calling it their settlement. These Terrorists must be sent packing to hell. If no be soldiers wey dey back una. Herdsmen for no fit last 24hrs in Biafra Land. Things will soon change. E go shock all our haters. Something sweet is cooking.

Exactly.

I'm with the Ebonyi state indigenes on this one, fulani herdsmen doesn't have monopoly of violence.