Nigerians are calling for the boycott of beef as a way of protesting the incessant attacks and killings of people by herdsmen.
The position was made known in a poll conducted by PUNCH Online.
The poll, titled Herdsmen killings: Should Nigerians boycott beef? went live at 2.34pm last Thursday and was collated on Tuesday.
It asked respondents to indicate Yes if they wanted to boycott beef in protest against the herdsmen’s attacks; or No if they didn’t support the boycott movement.
Those who were indifferent to the matter were also asked to indicate so by clicking Indifferent.
Majority of the 2,961 respondents wanted to boycott beef. Precisely, 2,252 respondents, signifying 76 percent, chose Yes; 540 respondents, signifying 18 percent of the total respondents, chose No; while 169 respondents that made up the remaining 6 percent of the respondent population said they were Indifferent.
Many of those who supported the boycotting of beef cited the brutality of the attacks blamed on the herdsmen as the main reason.
“We should boycott beef. Anybody who sees the children and women that were slaughtered for the sake of beef he/she is eating and still feels the meat he/she is eating is worth human lives, has lost his humanity,” one of the respondents, The Greatest, wrote.
Amass A wrote: “There is nothing wrong in boycotting cow meat. It is very easy. Many parts of Nigeria before today don’t eat cow meat. Southern and North-central people of Nigeria should learn how to stop eating cow meat. They can eat fish, chicken, vegetables and bush meat. If people stop eating cow meat, this madness will come to an end. If they roam with cow for six months without buyers, won’t they stop and think on how to return back home or at best think of living a peaceful life?”
Dencom wrote, “Yes, as a matter of moral protest against the cattle breeders’ blood-spilling rampage, their cows which they value above human life should be boycotted by every Nigerian beef consumer who has a functional conscience.
“Buying and consuming the beef sourced from the cows of the killer Fulani herdsmen is like buying and wearing blood diamonds from the former killing fields of Sierra Leone.
“And, by the way, beef is not even healthy for human consumption, as we know better today.”
For some like Lekky Middlebelt, boycotting beef is not only about the herdsmen’s trouble but also about health. “Red meat is diabetes,” he wrote.
Some of those who didn’t want beef to be boycotted said the product was too essential in the diet of Nigerians than to stop eating it for any reason.
James wrote, “Lailai. Nigerians too love cow meat, cow leg, shaki, cow tail, cow tongue, even cow dick … Nigerians go suffer if cow no dey… The main problem is that successive governments haven’t found solutions that suit all… it’s easy to blame Fulani herdsmen; but I blame the government for failure to come up with solutions. Buhari sef has failed Nigerians because he doesn’t speak when lives are lost… A president must condemn and address the people who voted him in, irrespective of their religion or origin. Mr. President doesn’t deserve second term… he needs to retire … That doesn’t mean we want thieves again in this country, but we don’t want a lame duck president and government either.”
Tonyraba said, “We do not have to boycott beef for this reason. Abuse does not destroy us. The cows are innocent and useful to Nigerians than the herdsmen. Let us not misdirect our direction. 21st-century solution; RANCHES! RANCHES!! RANCHES!!!“
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Monday at a meeting in Abuja, appealed to the government and people of Benue State to, “in the name of God,” accommodate their countrymen.
The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who led a delegation to the meeting, asked the President to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the leaders of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.
He lamented that several people were killed in the recent attacks, while more than 60,000 people were displaced.
“We made a strong appeal to Mr. President to arrest those people that perpetrated this act, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, because they are not above the law.”
Fulani herdsmen attacked parts of Benue State on January 1 and 2, 2018, where 73 people were killed.
