The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, an umbrella body of herdsmen in Nigeria, has accused South-West governors of sabotaging the Bola Tinubu’s supposed presidential ambition in 2023.

Although the All Progressives Congress chieftain has kept mum on his presidential ambitions, there have been numerous rumours suggesting otherwise.

However, in an interview on PUNCH Online’s The Roundtable programme on Wednesday, the spokesman for the group, Saleh Alhassan, said that the South-West governors are creating problems for Tinubu with their anti-herdsmen stance.

Recall that Tinubu recently advised state governments to convert unoccupied public lands to ranches for herdsmen following accusations of criminal activities, including kidnappings and rape, in host communities. The herdsmen alleged crimes had led to calls from different parts of the country, especially in the southwest, that they be evicted from their host communities.

The Miyetti Allah spokesman’s on Wednesday commended Tinubu for his proposed solution to the farmers-herders crisis rocking the nation. He, however, noted that the country was not ready to embrace or implement “progressive solutions”.

Alhassan said, “I sympathise with him (Tinubu) because if he says more than what he is saying, they will say may be he is pushing for his presidential ambition. That is why he takes time before he even responds but I expected him to call all his political godsons —who are governors — that are causing this confusion to order. He should call them and say, ‘Hey, when I become president, I will solve this problem for us’ (and) not to create problem for him, for his ambition.”

When asked whether the farmers-herders crisis could affect the political ambition of Tinubu, Alhassan alleged, “When you have a group of people attacking citizens, does it translate to political love? When you have the supposed Amotekun joining militants to attack traders in Shasha (in Oyo State), burn their properties, does it give a good political value to whoever wants to get support from those people?”

He also said the crisis was being exaggerated to score political points, adding that the Fulani herders who are of the same ethnic stock as the President are not enjoying any special preference or benefits from the Buhari regime.