The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fulani

  • S/West and Fulani herdsmen’s terror

    In the past couple of weeks, we in the South-west have not been experiencing much of Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism in our part of Nigeria. We hear of it still going on very brutally in parts of the Middle Belt – still more or less regularly taking the lives of many people, destroying villages, and forcibly seizing territory in Benue State, Southern Kaduna and other parts of the Middle Belt.

    Obviously, we in the South-west would be fools if we allowed ourselves to fall into the thinking that it has ended in our South-west. It has not. In fact, whenever one travels through any part of the South-west these days, one cannot avoid the very clear impression that the cattle herders and their cows are streaming in larger numbers than before to the South-west. They are everywhere, from the tall grass terrains of our northern territories (in northern Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states), all the way to our southernmost districts, including our Lagos State in our farthest south. They are roaming in places where there is, obviously, only thick forests and broad-leaf vegetation and no visible grass. Even though the reports of the herdsmen’s violent attacks on farms and farmers and villages have been muted in the past few weeks in our South-west, we need to watch out. Their coming at all, and their coming in the larger numbers that we are now seeing, is not good for our well-being and cannot be good for our future.

    We must entertain such fears for obvious reasons. When, at the early high points of the Fulani herdsmen’s massacres and destruction of farms and villages in various prats of our South-west, we cried out in pain, the responses we got were such as should always keep us on our guard. Some leaders of the association of Fulani cattle herders responded to us that there was nothing we could do to keep their herdsmen and their cows out of our homeland, and that their being Nigerian citizens, and their living under the ECOWAS agreements, gave them the unlimited freedom to enter with their cows into any part of our land, even if they were engaging in violence and destruction there. We, as Nigerians, deserved protection by the Nigerian federal government; but, not only did the President of Nigeria keep silent about these outrages by his Fulani kinsmen terrorists, the general behaviour of the federal government was such as to make us suspect that the powers and influence of the federal government were being used to support the Fulani herdsmen terrorists. We can see, as many Nigerians have pointed out in the media, that the Nigerian Police seem to fear to arrest the murderous terrorists, even when the terrorists carry AK47 rifles in the public, and even when the terrorists are suspected to have killed people or destroyed property.

    When the government of our Ekiti State made a law to curtail the rampages of the Fulani terrorists in Ekiti State, and the leaders of the herdsmen’s associations responded that they would disregard the law and defy the Ekiti State government, we could only conclude that they derived their defiant spirit from the support they were getting from federal sources. And, finally, it is no longer a secret that our governors are under federal pressure to accept the cattle herders, and to provide land for them, in our states.

    In short, there are good reasons why we must suspect that there is a plot in high places to inflict some horror on our homeland in Nigeria, and that the Fulani herdsmen terrorists are part of the instruments of the plot. Most informed Nigerians believe by now that some very influential Nigerians are behind the radicalization of the Fulani herdsmen in these times – that some influential Nigerians are supplying sophisticated weapons to them, training them in military assault tactics, indoctrinating them against the rest of Nigeria, and attracting foreign elements (Libyan militia men and Fulani desperadoes from neighbouring countries) to come and join them in killing and destroying in Nigeria. The ultimate objective of all this remains a puzzle to us; we only know that it cannot possibly be good for us or for the other Nigerian peoples that have been under the attacks since 2014. There is no doubt that this is some sort of invasion.

    Nomadic cattle rearing is one of the most primitive survivals of barbarism into the modern world. In most countries where it still exists, the authorities are striving to bring it to an end and to replace it with modern cattle ranching. In contrast, in Nigeria, the authorities are manoeuvring to create space for it even in regions where it never existed even in ancient times. The record of our history shows that we Yoruba, living in a homeland that is mostly tropical forests, have never engaged in nomadic cattle rearing. In the course of the past 6000 years, we have steadily developed our sedentary crop farming into the most successful in tropical Africa. On the basis of that success, we built the richest urban civilization in the history of Black Africa. But today in Nigeria, we are being pressurized to push back on civilization in order to create space for barbarism on our land.

    We must make it abundantly clear to Nigeria and to the world that we will never yield to this outrage. We will pursue our best and most sustainable options in the circumstance. We will not harass or antagonize our governors in this matter. We know the kind of pressures they are operating under. We only demand of them to dare to speak out clearly in ways that fully and unambiguously express our wish. Then we ask that they should, like the Ekiti State governor, make laws that will push back on nomadic cattle rearing in our states.

    And finally, to nail our approach to this problem definitively, we must ask our state governments to embark on programmes for the development of modern cattle ranching. This would mean that, in the grasslands of the northern provinces of our states, we should set aside areas that we designate as ranch-lands; and in such places we should encourage our own citizens to acquire, at minimum costs, appropriate sizes of land for ranches; and we should set up programmes for helping them to develop their ranches and to enforce ranch regulations and security. As a corollary to this, we should set up cattle markets in the same northern areas of our homeland, and encourage our business folks to establish slaughter facilities or abattoirs, and to put frozen meat trucks on the roads to supply beef to our towns and cities. We have reached the point at which we should prohibit the rearing of cows through our farmlands, and prohibit the driving of cows though our city or town streets. We have also reached the point at which we should see to it that our beef retailers will buy their beef supplies at frozen depots and sell with smaller frozen facilities.

    If other people desire to bring cows for sale from outside our region, they should bring their cows, by approved pathways, to our cattle markets and sell there only. In all these, there are great business opportunities for our people. There are also great business opportunities for citizens of northern states in their own states, if they would choose to take advantage of what we are doing. We will gladly buy the cattle that they bring to our cattle markets. These are things we and they can do quite easily. For us and for them, it is a win-win proposition. But we must not wait for anybody; we must go right ahead regardless. If we handle this well, we in the South-west can soon become a major exporter of beef.

    In summary, we must not let ourselves get embroiled in wild and messy battles over our farmlands. We must mobilize the factors of civilization to win the primitive war that some people have chosen to wage against us. Let us win it – in ways that are peaceful, in ways that will advance our progress and prosperity. I hope that our governors – Akinwumi Ambode, Ibikunle Amosun, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi  Akeredolu and Ayo Fayose – are reading this. And I hope they will spring into action. If they do, they can count on our powerful backing at every step.

  • Southern Kaduna: We lost 11,571,000 cattle in two weeks, says Fulani group

    HERDSMEN in Southern Kaduna have lost over 11,571,000 cattle in the last two weeks to rustling, the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria (GAFDAN) has said. The group disclosed this on Friday at the two-day national security summit organised by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in collaboration with Leadership Group and National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRC). According to GAFDAN’s Secretary-General, Alhaji Sale Bayari, the cattle were stolen by criminals, who took some of them to Zamfara Forest. Bayari condemned the suggestion that herders should adopt ranching against grazing in order to solve the lingering crisis with farmers in certain parts of the country. He also condemned those saying herdsmen should provide for their cattle because animal husbandry was private business, noting that it was the responsibility of government to put in place necessary infrastructure.

    Bayari said herdsmen should be licenced to carry arms to defend themselves and their cattle. He said: “11,571,000 cows were rustled in two weeks in Kajuru and Kuchun local government areas of Kaduna state between April and May without a trace of a single one. What does that signify? It is a total breakdown of law and order and then these cattle were taken from the people because the criminals had weapons. “Nigerians have protection in most of their economic activities in this country because armed bandits or criminals are interested in the economy of people.

    Nigerian herdsmen control an economy that is worth trillions of naira but they have not been given any form of security within the jungles and bushes that they live. They are opened to attacks in the bushes by people carrying sophisticated arms and at the end of the day, our people are not allowed to own even the legally and lawfully provided arms like a single or double barrel. “They are not allowed such things. What we are saying is that when these people (armed bandits) go with their weapons, they cart away the entire cows of families, thereby raising a generation of potential criminals, because they no means of livelihood.

    “They would find criminal activities to be very lucrative and we would continue to have armed robbery, kidnapping and then farmers/herders clash. They wouldn’t have had any business with crime if their cattle were not rustled. “Since theirs were rustled and there seems to be no law, then they would visit lawlessness on other Nigerians. Where there’s unrest in countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the government allows herders to carry weapons to take care of their animals.

    “Violence begets violence, if a group of Nigerians are criminals and go against the law by having sophisticated weapons to attack others, every Nigerian will struggle to have a balance of terror for him to survive. We have herdsmen everywhere but they had to arm themselves to get the balance of terror against other tribes that specialize in cattle rustling. “Kidnapping, cattle rustling and other crimes indicate failure on the part of security and national ethos.

    Failure as a result of lack of patriotism, failure that Nigeria is polarised on the basis of ethicity, religion and sectionalism. “That is why in Benue State, the governor can say there is land for farming but no land for grazing. You are simply saying as a governor that there are groups of people that you will not habour in your state and yet you eat meat. Why didn’t the governor say there is no land for farming yam, cassava? “The Fulani man is not a mad man, if there is no land in Benue, you don’t need to say it because it would be glaring and he might not have one route to lead his cattle.

  • 13 feared killed in fresh Southern Kaduna attack

    13 feared killed in fresh Southern Kaduna attack

  • ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    ‘To end crisis, Tiv, Fulani should intermarry’

    Neither tough talk nor troops nor grazing reserves have quelled clashes between Tiv and Fulani. But do not lose hope, says a cleric, intermarriage will do the trick. FANEN IHYONGO reports

    The crisis is so protracted, bloody and bitter that a solution must be found. Since the clashes are usually about grazing places and crop-farms, the authorities have tried to resolve it through grazing routes, but that has not scaled back the bitterness or the bloodbath. How about deploying troops to trouble spots? Even that failed over time. Both sides have also threatened each other, but that did not end the Tiv/Fulani crisis.

    There is one more idea, and it is as sure as night follows day, said a cleric, Sam Zuga, founder of the House of Joy International. Tiv and Fulani should intermarry, he said. In fact, he called the idea the final solution.

    Bishop Zuga is quite popular, ministering in his church’s branches in the United Kingdom, United States, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tanzania and South Africa. So when he scheduled what he termed a mega crusade near Gboko, in the Tiv heartland, in his native Benue State, the large crowd that turned up was looking forward to his sermons, miracles and perhaps some healings. But besides the spiritual food they got, the gathering went home with a thought-provoking message, in the form of a drama, on how the Fulani/Tiv crisis would be finally resolved.

    Zuga’s panacea, coming days after over 100 Tiv persons were hacked to death by Fulani marauders in separate attacks, is for Tiv to reconcile with Fulani and marry them. He added that when the two ethnic groups inter-marry, the affinity of one family would not allow them unsheathe swords against one another.

    The Fulanis are mostly Muslims just like 99 percent Tivs are Christians. The difference in religion often hinders serious relationships, particularly wedlock, between members of the two ethnic groups. Now, Fulani militants have reportedly laid siege on over 10 local government areas of Benue State, including Logo, Katsina-Ala, Kwande, Ukum, Buruku, Guma and Gwer. Many Tiv communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states have been sacked by Fulani militias, after killing a staggering number of Tiv farmers in several attacks. Some Fulanis have accused Tiv youths of rustling their cows while Tivs accused Fulani herdsmen of allowing their animals to feast on their crops. Fulanis value their cows much as Tivs value their farms as means of livelihood. Continuous bloody clashes between the two have become a source of worry to all Nigerians including the government. But whereas Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has proffered “ranching” as the solution to end hostilities, Bishop Zuga has said “marrying Fulanis will be a final bus stop to the crisis.”

    “At the peak of the crisis between Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen, where all government and individual efforts have failed, God has instructed me to come to the rescue of my people with a final solution to the crisis,” he said.

    He said God, in the past, used him to put an end to many intra-communal and inter-ethnic crises, including the Tiv/Jukun crisis.

    “It will surprise many of you to hear that God used me to cause an end to the Ipav/Ukan crisis, Kusuv/Ikyurav-Tiev communal crisis and the Tiv/Jukun crisis, in which many lives and property were destroyed.

    “I had sent my team to offer free medical services in the Jukun area and the Aku Uka was impressed. He requested to see me. When I arrived at his palace in Wukari, the paramount ruler of the Jukun Kingdom stood up and gave me a rousing reception. He confirmed to me that no Tiv man on this earth, except the Tor Tiv III the late Akperan Orshi, has ever been honoured in his palace like me.

    “Aku Uka then promised me that his subjects (Jukun) will drop arms against my people (Tiv). Since then, Jukun and Tiv have not fought again.”

    Taking his sermon from John 19:21, the bishop said the Tiv land needs the kind of peace Christ gave to his disciples after his resurrection. He traced the major cause of the crisis to what he called “the dishonest lifestyle of some traditional chiefs” who he accused of collecting monies from Fulani and allowing their animals to graze freely in Tiv farms without the knowledge of their subjects.

    He said: “The criminal activities of our youths, caused by either poverty or their youthful exuberances, affect nomadic activities of the herders, which in turn negatively affect our farmlands.”

    Zuga, who holds the chieftaincy title of the ‘Mallam Salleh of northern Muslims,’ appealed to his Tiv people to continue to tolerate and accommodate the Fulani speaking people. He described Fulani as longtime brothers of the Tiv, who had lived in the past harmoniously with Tiv and shared things in common with them. He asked Tiv people to love, trust and have faith in Fulani that all shall be well.

    “A Fulani herder is like a shepherd in the Bible who would do anything, including sacrificing his dear life, to protect his cows from any attack.

    “Our people produce carbohydrate while Fulani produce protein. We get beef and mutton in exchange of yam tubers or grains. We all benefit from the barter trade.

    “It will profit us more if we seek peace; don’t attack Fulani; don’t rustle or attack their cows. To Fulani elites: “Stop arming your youths to attack and kill Tiv; herdsmen don’t destroy Tiv farms; all of you should forgive and forget the unhappy past; remember that you all share ancestral origin.”

    The drama showcased a wedding between a Tiv man and a Fulani woman to signify love, peace and unity and family tie. The actor and actress were seen clad in the Tiv and Fulani cultural regalia.

    During the event, Bishop Zuga grouped Fulani herdsmen into “armed and free herdsmen.” He revealed that God has asked him to peacefully drive away the armed and aggressive ones who have ravaged Tiv land.

    Recalling how God instructed David to use the stick and five stones in providing a solution, Zuga presented to the congregation, a T-shirt, card, tag, sticker and World Wanders Water (WWW), as products God has giving him the ability to produce as a final solution to the activities of the armed Fulani herdsmen including other criminal activities so that his people will be liberated.

    Preaching from Joshua 14:15, he said: “Tiv land shall be free from Fulani attacks for seven years.

  • Gunmen kill 3 herdsmen in Southern Kaduna

    Gunmen kill 3 herdsmen in Southern Kaduna

    Three Fulani herdsmen were at the weekend killed by yet to be identified gunmen in Jema’a and Zango Kataf local government areas, both in the troubled southern part of Kaduna State.

    The Nation gathered that two of the herdsmen were gunned down at Unguwan
    Maiyashi village, Fantsuwam Chiefdom, in Jemaa Local Government area, while
    the other one was also killed at Madakiya community in Zangon Kataf LGA.

    An indigene of Ungwar Miayasihi, told our correspondent that the incident
    occured at about 4:00am on Saturday when the herdsmen were grazing with
    their cattle inside a bush. He said that their corpses were later traced to
    a river by security agencies on Sunday morning.

    Kaduna State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Aliyu Usman while
    confirming the incident said some suspects have been arrested in
    connection with the incident.

    He also said that more policemen have been drafted to the area to avert any
    form of reprisal or break down of law and order, adding that the suspects
    would be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.

  • Southern Kaduna: Gunmen kill 21 in fresh attacks

    Southern Kaduna: Gunmen kill 21 in fresh attacks

    No fewer than 21 persons have been reported killed in fresh attacks on villages of Kaura and Jema’a Local Government Area, in the southern part of Kaduna State.

    The state government on Monday confirmed the renewed attacks, as it said  that the Garrison Commander of the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army and the state’s Commissioner of Police have relocated to the troubled areas.

    The Nation gathered that, gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, despite presence of security agents deployed by the federal government to end the incessant killings in the area launched attacks on four communities, killing 21 people.

    Many houses were also reportedly set ablaze during the Sunday and Monday attacks on Ashim, Nissi and Zilan in Atakad District, Kaura local government and Bakin Kogi in Goska District of Jama’a local government.

    The attacks in Ashim, Nisi and Zilan according to eye witnesses occurred on Monday at about 6:00pm, claiming 15 lives with over 50 houses burnt, while that of Bakin Kogi occurred on Sunday at about 5:00pm, claiming seven lives and many houses set ablaze.

    According to the President of Atakad Community Development Association, Mr. Enock Andong who confirmed the attack on the three villages in his area, the herdsmen were heavily armed and that in spite of the security presence, they were able to launch the attack.

  • The Agatu/Fulani herdsmen deal

    Last week the peace deal between  the warring Agatu people of Benue and the Fulani herdsmen  midwifed by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue and his Nasarawa  State counterpart, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to rebuild confidence after  what the former described as  “ the massive and unprecedented destruction of Agatu and killings by herdsmen”, and the latter as “the culture of impunity where a group of individuals entered other people’s land and began to kill them or attack others and their cattle” crumbled no sooner it was publicly proclaimed by the peace makers. The highlights of the collapsed peace deal designed to end five decades of reprisal massacre of cows and human beings  include  the call for “forgiveness by  the  victims while keeping silent on the need for genuine contrition;  a creation  of  dedicated grazing route along Oguto Adanyi – Ogumagbo- Bagana  communities for the movement of cattle by indigenous Fulani herdsmen’; a proposal by the peace makers  to make representation  to the Federal Government, donor  agencies, development partners, voluntary organizations and philanthropists to assist victims of the crisis in the affected communities of Benue and Nassarawa states and contribution of the sum of N30m by the two peacemakers  which would be used to provide building materials for the ravaged Agatu Communities”.

    I sympathise with both governors. It was obvious from their body language they were trying to walk the tight rope instead of striking the nail on the head (apology to Alhaji Ishmael Jose). These are governors who under a freely negotiated   federal arrangement   are expected to be independent and equal with the centre but who in reality exist at the behest of a dysfunctional centre that runs a multi-ethnic society without residual powers for the federating units. The result is that the federating units that depend on the centre for payment of salaries of local council workers, primary school teachers, and protection of life and properties which is the major reason they exist as states, cannot publicly admit the problem of our nation is the tyranny of the government at the centre.

    Thus, instead of Al Makura talking truth to the Fulani hegemonic power whose members arm herdsmen with sophisticated weapons, he spoke from both sides of the mouth without making a distinction between the victims and aggressors.  Of course, Ortorn like his fellow  new generation of Middle Belt politicians like Gabriel  Suswam, Joshua Dariye and Jonah Jang  appealed to his compatriots to allow God fight their battle while reminding them that  the only safeguard for peace and  development is forgiveness as if there can be peace without justice. The Middle Belt military politicians are not different. Their genius only find expression in planning coups (military and civilian) or threatening to shoot MKO Abiola if his mandate was allowed to stand. None of the grovelling military Generals-turned-politicians have been able to tell truth to the Fulani hegemonic power, in the manner of  the inimitable Joseph Tarka  who suffered deprivations  from the dominant northern establishment  over his demand for self-actualization  for his people within the context of Nigerian politics in the pre- and post-independence  years.

    Of course, vengeance as Governor Ortorn has said, belongs to God. Of course, the indigenous Fulani born in the land who have no other place to call home and identify with the aspirations of their host communities should be supported by the community to make a living like the rest of the people. But peace as end of justice can only be achieved by listening and coming to the aid of those whose source of subsistence living has been destroyed.  Compensating those whose cattle were massacred and above all, bringing those who engaged in mindless killing of innocent men, women and children to justice.

    Our crisis of nationhood as this column has consistently maintained, is the resistance to restructuring to make our federal arrangement work by the groups that seem to derive temporary benefit from the current unwieldy and unviable 36 states and 774 LGAs. This is why some federal lawmakers with false sense of self-worth will declare during a grazing bill debate that herdsmen have the right to graze their cattle anywhere in the country by virtue of the constitution. The question that follows is which constitution? The current constitution as many informed Nigerians have concluded  is a military document designed to keep the military that has directly or indirectly been in power since 1966  relevant in our national affairs? The document gave an edge to the North because the military leadership was dominated within this period (1967 and 1999) by military officers of northern extraction. Obasanjo, the only influential exception owes allegiance to the North that tolerated him as Head of State following the assassination of Murtala Mohammed in 1976.  (Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe who as the most senior surviving military officer, was rejected as Head of State by the North in 1966). The result of this is the emergence of a new generation of northern politicians who despite lacking the vision and mission of the late revered Ahmadu Bello who once referred the restive Middle Belt region shortly after independence as extension of his great grandfather’s fiefdom, have with this false sense of entitlement   continued to resist restructuring of the country to free federating units from the tyranny of a dysfunctional federal centre.

    It is but a dysfunctional centre that will choose to waste resources it does not generate on grazing  zones over state lands it does not control when it has the options  of either establishing or empowering private  concerns to establish  commercial ranches as obtains elsewhere in the world. And  precisely because the centre has been busy playing politics with resources it does not generate instead of providing leadership, few of the unwieldy 36 states have exhibited the type of resourcefulness  associated with pre and post-independence regional leaders,

    Why for instance can’t the government of Benue, Nasarawa and some other states in the north jointly set up or empower the wealthy Fulani farmers to set up commercial ranches that can provide employment for thousands of unemployed northern youths? Why can’t a Governor Ayo Fayose, currently obsessed with building bridges over land and an airport take a break from chasing errant cows around farms to rehabilitate the dairy farm established by Adekunle Ajasin during the Second Republic in order to take advantage of South-west’s huge market where 10,000 cows are consumed daily?

    And finally for the patrons of Fulani herdsmen in the National Assembly  who want to live in the 19th century  with their thesis of fear about  desertification  forcing  Fulani herdsmen to overrun  the southern states in desperate search for grazing field if the passage of the grazing bill failed, let me call their attention to the miracle of Botswana. Here is a country of two million people, the size of France with 70% of the land covered by Kalahari desert but exports more meat to the world than the combined efforts of other African countries. Cattle are the mainstay of Botswana economy which depends on deep-bore-hole water for 95% of her human and animal water need. Botswana was one of the poorest nations in the world with per capita income of about $70 at independence in 1964 but today one of the fastest growing economies in Africa with per capita of about $18,825.

  • No land was ceded to Fulani herdsmen – Ortom

    No land was ceded to Fulani herdsmen – Ortom

    The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Monday night said no land was seeded to the Fulani herdsmen in the state.

    He was reacting to allegations levelled against his administration following the signing of a peace agreement between the Agatu people in his state and the Fulani herdsmen.

    Ortom said his political detractors were behind the allegation.

    The governor spoke with State House correspondents after close door meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He said: “It is not the people who are saying this. The people who are saying this are outside Agatu people. This was a peace pact that was brokered by the Agatu people and the Fulani herdsmen. Myself and Governor of Nassarawa State were there to moderate and allow them.

    “And the insinuation that part of the land was conceded to Fulani is false. It is being instigated by our political opponents who have nothing to tell the people. They want to use that to instigate the people against our government. But they cannot succeed because we are sincere, God-fearing and truthful.

    “We have ensured there is peace in our land. As I talk to you, in my own local government, the herdsmen are moving freely. But they are being monitored and they are relating with the farmers very well. In 2013, my house was raised down in one day alone and more than 50 of my kinsmen were killed and my rice farm was burnt.”

     

  • One killed, five injured in fresh attack in Kaduna

    The Police in Kaduna on Sunday confirmed that unknown gunmen attacked Zankan village, a Fulani settlement in Kaura Local Government of the state.

    Spokesman of the command, ASP Aliyu Usman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that the incident occurred at about 8.30 p.m. on Saturday.

    He said that one person was killed and five others injured in the attack.

    “The dead and the injured persons have been taken to the nearest medical centre in Ganawuri town, Plateau State,” Usman said.

    He, however, said that investigation into the incident had commenced.

    “We are trailing the suspects behind the attack, but so far, no arrest has been made.

    “We are, however, optimistic that the additional police operatives deployed in the area will fish out the culprits very soon,” he said.

    The spokesman reiterated the commitment of the command to secure citizens and property in the state, saying “we will not allow lawlessness to thrive.”

    He appealed to the public to always assist security agencies in the state with useful information to enable them to take proactive measures. (NAN)

  • Police Inspector, eight others killed by herdsmen in Niger

    Nine people including a Police Inspector and a a Superintendent of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) have been killed by Fulani herdsmen in Rafin Gona and BCC Gbagyi villages in Bosso local government area of Niger state.

    The weekend attack also left 6000 people displaced and properties, including farm produce, houses and belongings worth N700 destroyed.

    Sources said that the Inspector of police and an Assistant Superintendent officer of the NSCDC went on rescue mission but were killed during the attack.

    The attack is the latest in the spate of attacks by Fulani herdsmen on Gbagyi and other communities in the state which have left over 200 people dead.

    The Chairman of Bosso local government area, Alhaji Isah Wakili said that after killing the villagers, the unknown herdsmen set their farm produce, which includes yams, maize, guinea corn, grand-nut and millet ablaze.

    Speaking to newsmen after conducting a sympathy visit along with Senator representing the area, Senator David Umaru and the House of Representative member, Salihu Shandafi, Wakili said that more bodies were still being recovered from nearby bush.

    ” I can tell you that almost all the houses in the villages including yam and corn barns were completely burnt in the attack. We put the estimate of all damaged properties to over N700m”.

    Senator David Umaru representing Niger East Senatorial District at the National Assembly described the attack as barbaric, inhuman and a dastardly act.

    “What I have seen is heart breaking. It is act of wickedness and complete disregard to human life. This is a very serious problem, a lot of people have been displaced. Most of them have fled from their houses and even if they were here, they would not have anywhere to stay because their houses have been burnt including cloths and food barns. This kind of situation is not acceptable”.

    He called for the state government to take decisive action to stop the reoccurrence of such attack adding that government should also act fast in providing relief materials to the victims to prevent humanitarian crisis in the affected villages.

    He assured that the attacks of the herdsmen will soon come to an end adding that a lasting solution will be found by the Senate towards ending herdsmen/ farmers clash in the senatorial zone.

    “The Senate has set up a committee on this Fulani herdsmen and communal clashes I will liaise with the committee to also look into this problem in this constituency”