Cattle, foodstuff traders end blockade, visit Presidency over demands

The Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers in Nigeria has called off its nationwide strike after an engagement with the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.

The AUFCDN President, Muhammad Tahir, said the strike was called off following the Federal Government’s promise to pay  N4.75bn compensation, ensure the protection of its members and stop all forms of multiple taxation and intimidation from security officials on the highways.

The group had demanded N4.75b, compensation for the alleged killing of its members and properties lost during the #EndSARS protests and the Sasha market crisis.

But briefing journalists after the parley in Abuja on Wednesday, Tahir stated that Bello begged the cattle dealers on behalf of the Federal Government to suspend the food blockade which kicked off five days ago.

He stated, “All the stakeholders and members of AUFCDN involved in our nationwide strike are glad; we achieved what we wanted to achieve.

“They agreed to pay the compensation and stop multiple taxation on federal highways and allow us to engage in our business activities peacefully nationwide.”

Addressing the union members during the reconciliatory meeting,  Bello said the strike had increased the hardship majority of Nigerians were already going through, including members of the aggrieved cattle and foodstuff dealers.

The governor said, “We must make life easy for ourselves; since you embarked on this action, there has been a lot of hardship on Nigerians across the board; not only in the South or West.”

A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who spoke on behalf of the West and Southern geopolitical regions, said the impact of the strike was too heavy to ignore, adding that the killing of any Hausa-Fulani or traders engaged in legal business activities would no longer be tolerated or accepted.

“On behalf of the so many people in the South-West, especially Sunday Igboho (Yoruba activist), our commitment to you today is that people of the Hausa- Fulani extraction cannot and will not be attacked in the south.”

Fani-Kayode, however, appealed to the FG to address the menace of armed Fulani herdsmen in the forests, whom he said were known to perpetrate all forms of evil, including killing, raping and maiming of Nigerians.