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Tag: herdsmen

  • Police arrest suspected herdsmen

    The Plateau State Police Command has arrested suspected armed Fulani herdsmen.

    They were nabbed while allegedly preparing to launch attacks on people in Jos South, Riyom and Barkin Ladi councils.

    Police Commissioner Adekunle Oladunjoye, who yesterday paraded the suspects at the police headquarters in Jos, said: “The arrest was the result of intelligence efforts of the police, following apprehension about possible clash between farmers and herdsmen in the local governments.”

    There have been clashes between Berom farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the three councils at the beginning of rainy season since 2010, resulting in the death of residents and destruction of property worth millions of naira.

    The police boss said: “Now that another rainy season is here, there is apprehension of another clash.

    “This is why our men are mounting surveillance to nip any criminal plan in the bud. Men from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on stop-and-search on the Riyom/Ganawuri Road arrested armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

    “The suspects are Sani Salihu, Husaini Tahir, Muhammed Usman, Rabiu Adamu, Idris Yusuf, Ibrahim Muhammed and Hassan Abdulahi.

    “They were nabbed with 504 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, three motorcycles suspected to be stolen, four locally-made AK 47 butts and nine mobile phones.

  • Herdsmen: Protests rock Makurdi

    Herdsmen: Protests rock Makurdi

    Commercial activities were yesterday disrupted in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, following protests against the continued killing of farmers by suspected herdsmen.

    The over 300 protesters took over the Makurdi- Gboko double carriage way and caused a gridlock from Wurukum roundabout to Low level roundabout.

    Clad in colourful branded T-shirts on top of black jeans, they were accompanied by security operatives, comprising mobile and regular policemen, as well as men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    The protesters marched on Makurdi streets under the scorching sun.

    The T-shirts and banners read: ‘No more grazing in Benue’, ‘Stop the killings’.

    The protesters were made up of students, activists, traders, union leaders and farmers. They were protesting  under the aegis of ‘Move Against Fulani Occupation (MAFO)’.

    The people, who were peaceful, were from the 23 local governments, including the areas attacked by suspected herdsmen, namely Agatu, Tarkaa, Buruku, Logo, Makurdi and Guma councils.

    One of the protesters, Comrade Edward Dooga, told The Nation that they want to draw the international community’s attention to the continued killings by suspected herdsmen, who occupied their farmlands.

    Another protester, Ukan Kulugh, said there would be food scarcity, if the herdsmen were not checked.

    He said the Fulani have occupied about seven local governments.

    Kulugh noted that while the farmers took refuge in primary schools as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the herdsmen grazed on their farms, destroying crops.

    At press time, the protesters were heading for the Government House, Makurdi.

  • Suspected Fulani herdsmen kill two in Delta

    Suspected Fulani herdsmen kill two in Delta

    Suspected Fulani herdsmen have killed two persons in  Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.

    A member of the House of Assembly, representing Ethiope East, Evans Iwhurie, said the traces of the killers were unmistakable.

    The lawmaker said an employee of the Delta State University (DELSU) at Abraka, Francis Okotie, as well as an indigene of Oria-Abraka, Philip Obayendo, were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in separate attacks on their farms.

    Okotie (52) and father of eight, including a DELSU worker in the Library Department, was allegedly shot twice on the arm and on the back of his head on his plantain and palm oil plantation farm,.

    Iwhurie said: “It is easy to identify the culprits because they always leave behind trails of cattle excrement and damaged crops by their herds.”

    The lawmaker noted that Okotie’s death happened on the heels of a similar killing of Obayendo, who was reportedly shot and cut to pieces by his assailants on his farm at Oria-Abraka.

    He said: “The decomposed body of Obayendo was discovered five days after he was last seen going to his farm.

    “Though this is a menace that has been occurring across the country, these two cases are among the many that have befallen the people of my constituency, especially in Abraka area.”

  • Impunity of the herdsmen

    For many farming communities across the country, the fear of Fulani herdsmen may as well, constitute the beginning of wisdom. From Benue to Plateau, Ondo to Enugu, the menace of Fulani herdsmen has taken such a dangerous dimension that may reduce the insurgency in the north-east to a child’s play.

    The impunity with which they attack, maim and raze down communities virtually unchallenged has given cause for motives to be imputed into their activities. They take local farming communities by surprise, attacking in commando style with very sophisticated weaponry to advantage.

    In the last couple of weeks, the Agatu local government area of Benue State has borne the brunt of these menacing attacks, ostensibly spurred by the lure of grazing lands for their cattle. So many lives have been lost with property of inestimable value destroyed. In their wake, more than 100,000 locals have been displaced from their ancestral homes while the invaders quickly brought in more than 500,000 cattle to graze on the farms of this predominantly agrarian community.

    The people of Agwu local government area of Enugu State are now living in a very fragile peace due to the arrest and detention of 76 indigenes when they mobilized to rescue two of their women abducted by Fulani herdsmen while on their farms. Reports had it that Fulani herdsmen had abducted the two women on their way to the farms and when all pleas to have them released fell on deaf ears, some youth in the community mobilized to have them freed.

    As they made to search for them, words were sent to soldiers who stormed the bush arrested and detained the villagers before handing them over to the police. They are still detained without being charged to court for whatever infractions they may be accused of. Ironically, the same soldiers showed scant regard to freeing the abducted women as their whereabouts remain mysterious.

    And in Osun State, the House of Assembly has directed that a task force be set up to monitor the coming in and out of Fulani herdsmen. The measure became expedient to check the indiscriminate grazing on farmland and the destruction of crops by the herdsmen. By this measure, the two entry points of the herdsmen through the Iwo and Ila axis are to be properly manned to control the movement of cattle into the state.

    These are just few cases in the orgy of violence associated with the activities of the herdsmen. They have also been fingered in the recurring cases of armed robbery, raping and kidnapping across the country. No less a person than the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase recently blamed much of this criminality associated with the Fulani herdsmen on those of them of foreign nationality.

    He said with our porous borders and the ECOWAS protocols that allow free movement of citizens of member countries, most of the criminal elements in the Fulani herdsmen stock are foreigners. How that claim will be useful in taming the menace of the herdsmen is yet to be seen. And if Arase has found this statistic to be correct, it will be interesting to know how he intends to deploy that information to tame the monster.

    The time bomb which the unrestrained violent proclivities of the herdsmen represent is further brought home by the lamentations of Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom. He had told reporters after his recent meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that “the security situation in Benue, especially Agatu is getting out of hand. Right now, several settlements have been razed down, an undisclosed number of people killed and my people are now refugees all over the place”.

    Other people in Benue State have also decried the continued killings by the herdsmen even with the deployment of more military and police personnel to the flash points. Not unexpectedly, this has given rise to accusations of bias against security agencies in handling matters concerning the herdsmen. No less a person than the former governor of Abia state, Theodore Orji last week, lent his weight to this suspicion of bias in the way security agencies treat matters relating to the provocation of the local population by invading herdsmen. He said the way security personnel react when issues arise between the herdsmen and the local population tends to convey the impression that they are biased in favour of the former.

    There is no doubt that the activities of the herdsmen have become the greatest threat to the security and unity of this country. Though the issue is not entirely new, it would appear it is everyday assuming such a dangerous dimension that something more serious has to be done to tame this monster.

    There are serious grounds especially given the inability of our law enforcement agencies to pre-empt and quickly control such attacks that expansion and domination may be the latent motive behind the flashes of violence associated with the herdsmen across the country.

    A number of suggestions have been floated as a way out of the situation. We have heard of grazing routes and grazing areas for the herdsmen throughout the country. There have also been suggestions for the establishment of ranches in keeping with global practices in animal husbandry.

    Even then, the Senate is said to be working on a legislation to provide grazing lands for the herdsmen. Though the modalities for this arrangement are yet to come public, there exists some measure of discomfort with ceding ancestral lands of the local population to Fulani herdsmen just to appease them. Those in support of mapping out grazing lands for the herdsmen do so as a temporary measure given that herdsmen scattered all over the country must have to find some grazing land for their cattle. And given the itinerant nature of this business, there is bound to be regular conflict between the herdsmen and the local farmers as long as their cattle go in search of pasture.

    The idea may sound plausible but it is not as neat as it is being proposed. Soon the issue of ownership will set in. Soon also demands for self-determination and all manner of agitations will crop up. And in a setting where Fulani herdsmen or their sympathizing armed militia wield sophisticated weapons with which to attack and dislodge the local population from their ancestral homes, ceding such vast land areas to them will further come with serious security challenges.

    There is little doubt about that. If they can operate with the level of impunity that has now become their hallmark, one shudders what the situation will be when vast areas of land are now allocated to them just for grazing in all parts of the country. Will that not embolden them to further challenge the original owners of the lands? Will that also not amount to instituting Fulani hegemony all over the country?

    It is therefore important that in putting together that piece of legislation, our lawmakers must clearly state that the ownership of those lands devolves on the original owners. One way to ensure this is to make those herdsmen pay regular rent to the original owners of the land.  Rearing cattle is a very big business. Farming is also peoples’ means of livelihood. We cannot afford to sacrifice one for the other. With geometric increase in population given our census figures, our food needs have also grown by that same margin.

    Our local farmers should not be denied access to their farming lands just to appease the herdsmen who by all accounts have proved to be unfriendly visitors. The ultimate solution is in embracing the establishment of ranches. Then and only then would we have found permanent solutions the constant frictions between the herdsmen and their host communities.

    Before then, the federal government must do something urgent about the sources of the sophisticated arms and ammunitions at the disposal of the herdsmen. The inability of the security agencies to disarm them, fuels the festering impression that there is an official dimension to the impunity of Fulani herdsmen.

  • Herdsmen/farmers clashes worsen

    Herdsmen/farmers clashes worsen

    Incessant conflict between farmers and Fulani herdsmen across the country is affecting the security of communities. These conflicts have led to the destruction of land and water resources as the hooves of cattle trample on them. The destruction of crops by the herdsmen continues to place restraint on effective utilisation of arable farmland, reports BODE DUROJAIYE.

    Unless the Federal Government urgently addresses incessant encroachment of farmlands by a group called Bororo cattle rearers, and the havoc they wreak on crops, bloody clashes between the farmers and the intinerant herdsmen would be inevitable.

    In Oyo State, villagers from about eight villages, and settlers from Ilora farm settlement in the Afijio Local Government Area of the state have already declared total war on the  cattle rearers. The affected villages include Oluwatedo, Temi-dire, Idode, Kaye, Fitila, Isale-Awon, and Ekefa. The angry peasant farmers narrated how they lost millions of naira to the damages done to their farm produce by the herdsmen.

    Spokespersons for the villagers, Messers Sunday Adeladan and Jacob Ayoola, told our correspondent that invasion of their farmlands by the Bororos started late last year, and that frantic efforts to check the criminal acts were often met with violent attacks by the cattle rearers.

    “Villagers from each of the communities planted cassava, maize, and yams on about 50 acres of farmlands each, but were unable to harvest five ridges because the cattle owned by the Bororo had eaten up all the crops. Whenever we contact these Bororos on the damages and the need for compensation, they will draw out their sharp daggers and cork their guns in readiness for attacks,” they said.

    They accused the police of complicity in the matter, and stressed that all peaceful means to seek amicable resolution were usually thwarted by their attitudes.

    “What is worrisome and provocative is the preferential treatment accorded these Bororos.  If you go to the police station or police post to lodge complaint about them, rather than   act accordingly and do thorough investigation, we (farmers) the complainants will later be treated as the accused. Often times, the police will lock us in their cells, tortured us, on the orders of the Bororos,”they lamented.

    The spokespersons added that the farmers are indebted to over N20 million as loans received, but could not pay back because there is no means of doing so.

    They said: “Our means of livelihood have been damaged and eaten up by cows; we have no other means of sustenance. Our families are dying of hunger, nothing for us to eat let alone allowing our children to go to school. No money to buy text books, school sandals, not to even talk of their uniforms. It is as serious as that.

    “Failure to comply with the ultimatum may invoke anger and violent reactions from us because an hungry person is a mad person. Authorities concerned must intervene now before it is too late.”

    Similarly, Chairman, Ilora Farm Settlers Association, Alhaji Azeez Giwa, lamented that over 8,009 acres of farmlands were eaten up and destroyed by cows owned by the Bororos between 2003 and this year.

    Giwa hinted that an agric loan of N7million received by the settlers from the government could not be repaid, since their means of livelihood had been eaten up. Consequently, he said N40 million is needed as compensation for the   damages.

    He further alleged threats to lives and properties by leader of the Bororo cattle rearers, one Alhaji Jere, who boasted to be untouchable and vowed not to relent in the destruction and damages of their  farm products.

    The situation is not different in Oke-Ogun area where farmers are threatening a showdown over what they referred to as “unabated criminal onslaught” being unleashed by the Bororo cattle rearers who migrated from neighbouring Niger Republic.

    The latest was the destruction of farm produce valued at about N1.5 million on a 50-acre land of maize farm at Simi Akorede border town in the Saki-west Local Government Area of the state.

    The food crops were not only eaten up by over 200 cattle, the cattle rearers also destroyed the left over with their cutlasses. When the owner of the crops, Mr. Akeem Oladejo, reported the matter to the police, he said no action was taken. The daredevil herdsmen, according to him, “even threatened to kill my family members if I dared attempt to prevent their cattle from subsequent damages”.

    Oladejo who collected agricultural loan from the state government almost lost his life before taking his matter to the umbrella body of all farmers associations in the area for appropriate action.

    The intervention of the Local Government Council, according to him, saved the situation from degenerating into bloodbath.

    As a result, tension is already building in the community.  What is more is  the pathetic case of a middle-aged peasant farmer whose left arm was chopped off at  Ipapo in the Itesiwaju Local Government Area.

    The unsuspecting farmer decided to go to his farm one Sunday morning to harvest some tubers of yams for the family meal. On reaching the farm, he saw two Bororo men harvesting some tubers of yam for their cattle to feed on.

    After challenging the Bororo men, the farm owner wanted to pick those tubers of yam already harvested, when one of the cattle rearers angrily drew out a sharp sword from a bag in his left arm. Sensing danger, the farmer threw away the tubers of yam and spoke with his heels.

    The Bororo man still pursued him until he fell over a big stone where the cattle rearer cut off his left hand. Scream of pains attracted passersby who rushed to the scene and took the farmer to a private hospital. He was later taken to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, the state capital for further treatment. The Bororo men  bolted away with their cattle and could not be apprehended till today.

    Going by several reports of herdsmen encroaching and grazing their cattle on farmlands and the pattern of attacks on farmer’s settlements and communities, the Fulani appear overwhelming as the aggressors.

    A Fulani herdsman based in Saki, Abdullahi Sadeeq, said: “Our herd is our life because to every nomad, life is worthless without his cattle. What do you expect from us when our source of existence is threatened? The encroachment of grazing fields and routes by farmers is a call to war.”

    It was gathered that following the protracted crises, the immediate past House of Assembly passed a law for the constitution of a committee in each of the 33 Local Government Areas of the state to be headed by council chairman, while the Divisional Police Officer serves as the secretary.  Other members must include heads and representatives of the communities, as well as of the Bororo cattle rearers.

    As a measure to address this issue, the Federal Government evolved a policy of establishing nationwide grazing reserves and routes.

    Apart from existing grazing areas, the Federal Capital Territory planned three reserves to serve about 15million pastoralists in the Northern states, including the demarcation of 175,000 hectares of grazing land, building of veterinary service centres, and construction of settlements for nomads to use en route. A total of $247 million was earmarked for the project. The government also demarcated about 1,400km livestock route from Sokoto State in the Northwest to Oyo State in the Southwest; and another 2,000km route from Adamawa State in the Northeast to Calabar in the Delta region.

    So far, the state of the country’s grazing reserves has remained unchanged. Former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina Akinwunmi once said of the current 415 grazing reserves across the country, only 141 have been gazetted with less than 20 equipped with resources for pastoralists.

    Although a Presidential Committee, of which the former minister was a member during former President Good luck Jonathan administration, was set up and given specific terms of reference aimed at improving existing grazing reserves and designing a new financing regime for them, the committee remained inactive.

    However, the immediate past government earmarked N10 billion for the operation of the Great Green Wall Programme (GGWP) to boost the fight against desert encroachment, a major factor that has driven pastoralists from the far North to the Northcentral region in search of grazing fields.

    From 2011 to 2014, an analysis of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s capital budget showed inconsistent allocation to the development of grazing routes and reserves. In 2011, the ministry allocated N31, 404,899,584 for capital projects. It channeled N310, 489,185 for its National Grazing Reserves and Pasture Development Programme that year.

    Of its N45,009,990,000 capital budget for 2012, a total N930,000,000 was allocated to the development of graving reserves, stock routes (1140km) and resting points across Nigeria. In 2013 and 2014, the ministry allocated N130,582,000 and N100,130,000 respectively from its N50,808,871,428 and N35,151,172,583 capital budgets in the year under review for countrywide grazing reserves development.

    Meanwhile, a llawyer, Wale Adeoye, has suggested that cattle routes and grazing reserves should be “phased out” to emphasise ranching.

    He identified cattle rustling as a disincentive to ranching and called for “better policing”.

    “State governments which have large livestock population should maintain grazing reserves. The three-tiers of government should equally embark on a continuous “modernisation programme” in which nomadic herdsmen will be integrated  into settled communities based on established cattle ranches with fodder development technologies, and including abattoirs, processors and other businesses along the livestock value chain.

    “The integrated development programme should be undertaken and wrapped up within a period of  between five and 10 years after which such settlements should have become self-sustaining with the full integration of the nomadic herdsmen community into modern Nigeria political economy.”

    The lawyer also advocated that traditional institutions should be primarily responsible for the conflict resolution between the herdsmen and farmers, and also their respective associations.

    “The farmers would want their crops to be protected, while the cattleman will also want their cattle to feed. So, the government should fashion out peaceful means to end the crisis.”

    At the other end, the sentiments of those opposed to ceding land to cattle herdsmen are no less extreme as host communities see the idea of grazing reserves and routes as “provocative” and “selfish”. They alleged that the move is open to religious and political biases.

    According to two farmers, who spoke in Saki, Mallam Adio Aleem and Mr. Adekojo Alade, the proposal for citing grazing routes and reserves across the country is selfish and provocative. “You can’t ask people in an agrarian area like Oke-ogun, for example, to cut out areas and designate them as grazing precincts just to avoid incessant conflicts with herdsmen. The proposal is simply provocative,”the averred.

    No one has been able to find a middle ground between these two extremes. And so the bloodletting continues. In addition to herds destroying farms in their grazing strides, local communities are also buffeted by large-scale commercial farmers.

  • ‘Herdsmen terrorising Ado Poly’

    The Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has raised the alarm over the activities of Fulani herdsmen, who are destroying its farmlands and produce.

    The Rector, Dr. Taiwo Akande, said this at a pre-convocation briefing at the weekend.

    Mrs. Akande called on the Federal Government to assist the management to save the situation.

    She said the 16th combined convocation ceremony would involve graduating sets of 2010/2011; 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 academic sessions.

    Giving a breakdown, Mrs. Akande explained that 11,558 made up of full and part-time 3,855 HND and 7,882  ND graduands will be awarded their certificates at the ceremony.

    The Emir of Lafia and Chairman of Nasarawa State Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Isa Mustapha Agwai; former Group Managing Director of Oodua Group, Sir Remi Omotoso and a Port Harcourt businessman, Oluwatoyin Alani, will be conferred with the Polytechnic’s Fellowship at the convocation.

    The invasion, Mrs. Akande, said the polytechnic is also battling illegal settlers and land grabbers.

    She said the loss suffered in the hands of the herdsmen was colossal.

  • Fulani herdsmen bogey

    SIR: The massacre at Agatu in Benue State is perhaps the most eloquent testimony of the beast-like cruelty and absolute sense of omnipotent impunity of the nomadic Fulani herdsmen wandering all over Nigeria. Clearly, these people who take pride in their stateless existence devoid of any nationalistic proclivities are consumed by a nihilistic disdain for every other group. The extent of their brutality far exceeds the most inhuman exhibition of cruelty performed by ISIS and its West African affiliate.

    The scariest aspect of this enduring and manifestly evil phenomenon is that theational authorities in West Africa have more or less buried their heads in the sand in a vain wish that the issue will just fade away. In Nigeria we have had a succession of administrations that have dexterously side-stepped the Fulani herdsmen’s bogey. Even though it must be acknowledged that we have had at the head of the various administrations Christians, Muslims, Northerners and Southerners. This fact alone underscores the myth that the nomadic Fulani tribesmen are untouchable.

    Obasanjo, a Christian southerner as president in all of his reputed bravado managed not to deal with the Fulani herdsmen regime of impunity, even when they slaughtered innocent farmers in the Yoruba heartland where he hails from. Abacha, a northern Muslim and presumed strongman dictator even at the peak of his power as a merciless supreme leader never broached the subject of the Fulani herdsmen’s impunity. It is difficult to say if a conspiracy exists at the highest echelons of power to just let the herdsmen be and give them perpetual immunity for their frequent crimes against humanity.

    The recent past has seen not just an escalation in the frequency of incidences of nomadic Fulani inspired massacres but a savage ramping up of the degree of brutality of the marauding herdsmen. The Agatu massacre being the latest and gravest of them all. Our President, a Fulani man, is in a unique position to decode their psyche and finally check their excesses.

    It is possible that providence gave us a Buhari at this time to once and for all deal with the menace of the Fulani herdsmen. So far he has not said or done anything to the best of my knowledge to significantly address the menace posed by the Fulani herdsmen. I hereby urge all persons close to our dear president to plead with him to address the issue. His failure to comment on the issue or offer a practical approach to dealing with it is capable of igniting ethnic conflagration at a time when we already have an insurgency and threats of secession to deal with.

    The Fulani Herdsmen menace is indeed a low hanging fruit for the President to deal with, as his ethnicity gives him the psychological advantage to deal with it. While the insurgency is localized to the North-east and the threat of rebellion is brewing in the South-east, the nomadic Fulani phenomenon affects every part of Nigeria. Deal with it quickly and you would have won the confidence of all Nigerians in your ability to deal with the other nagging issues.

     

    • Patrick Doyle,

     Lagos.

  • Herdsmen accuse Agatu farmers of killing 10,000 cows

    Herdsmen accuse Agatu farmers of killing 10,000 cows

    THE Fulani community in Benue State, accused of killing hundreds in Agatu in Benue State, said on Thursday that the crisis started after 10,000 of cattle belonging to its members were killed by Agatu natives.

    Ado Boderi, who spoke on behalf of the Fulani community on Thursday, during a meeting between Agatu community, Fulani community and Police Inspector General Solomon Arase, said criminal elements from both sides escalated the crisis despite the quick intervention of the governor.

    He said that Fulani herdsmen were a peace-loving people, whose main concern was the problem of cattle rustling.

    Akpa Iduh, who spoke on behalf of the Agatu people, decried the continued unprovoked attacks on his people by “Fulani mercenaries”.

    Mr. Iduh, who said that the crisis started over five decades ago, lamented that it had recently turned into a war because of the types of weapons the herdsmen were using against them.

    He alleged that the “Fulani mercenaries” were killing both children and pregnant women on sight, adding that they were powerless after embracing the Benue Amnesty Programme and surrendered illegal arms to government.

    “The herdsmen are bent on turning our land into their grazing area, thereby rendering us homeless and without food.

    “Is it because we are minority and poor that they are using their numerical advantage and wealth against us?

    “We are going to remain in Agatu until the day they have succeeded in killing all of us.”

    The Inspector- General of Police, Solomon Arase, said in Makurdi that the force had deployed enough policemen to end the clashes between Agatu farmers and herdsmen in Benue.

    Mr. Arase, who was on a fact-finding mission to the state, made the assertion at a meeting between Agatu farmers and herdsmen.

    He disclosed that the force had deployed additional four units of police teams to the area to arrest the situation.

    “I am in Benue on the directives of Mr President on a fact- finding mission and to also see if there is a way to resolve the crisis.

    “We have enough security officers to end the ongoing crisis between farmers and herdsmen in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue.

    “We have also deployed additional four units of police teams in the area to arrest the situation.

    “There is no way we can all live together without having disagreements with one another at some point; it is the way we manage the disagreements that matters.

    “Both the farmers and herdsmen must learn to cohabit with one another as a nation for the peace and progress of our people,” he said.

  • Benue massacre: Stop herdsmen before they wipe out our people, Idoma beg Buhari

    Benue massacre: Stop herdsmen before they wipe out our people, Idoma beg Buhari

    Following last week’s massacre of over 300 indigenes of Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State by suspected Fulani Herdsmen, indigenes of the affected areas in Benin, Edo State, yesterday called on the Federal Government to urgently deploy a detachment of soldiers to the affected communities to end the carnage.

    Dr Enoch Malachi, an indigene of the affected Local Government and medical practitioner who addressed the press, said the Idoma community in Edo State has dispatched a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the urgent need to deploy soldiers to the affected areas.

    The affected communities are Okokolo, Akwu, Ocholonya, Adagbo, Ugboku and Aila where the invading herdsmen destroyed property and farmland produce worth several millions of naira.

    Dr Malachi noted that it was necessary to write the letter to the president to put an end to the unwanted killings by the herdsmen. “Government must take drastic action to end what I may describe as the senseless and wanton killings by Fulani herdsmen.”

    He rued the fact that the spate of attacks has forced thousands of families to flee the communities for other Local Government Areas for safety resulting in a serious refugee and humanitarian crisis.

    “The Federal Government must take drastic action now in order to bring peace to Agatu Local Government Area. I don’t know why Fulani herdsmen have become militants. Our people are peace loving and we have accommodated the herdsmen for years, and today, they have turned against us.

    “The information reaching us now is that three villages have been completely razed down by these herdsmen. The inhabitants have been turned refugees and displaced. Soldiers are not anywhere there to protect the people.

    “We are calling on the Federal Government to immediately deploy a battalion of soldiers to these communities; if not, our people may be completely wiped out by these well-armed herdsmen.”

  • Violent herdsmen aren’t Nigerians, says Arase

    Violent herdsmen aren’t Nigerians, says Arase

    Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase at the weekend said most troublesome herdsmen were not Nigerians but foreigners, who entered the country with their cattle due to the porous borders.

    Arase spoke while reacting to a question raised by a farmer on “persistent attacks of herdsmen” at an interactive section with stakeholders on community policing in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

    He noted that most of these violent herdsmen are either from Mali or Chad, saying Nigerian herdsmen are law abiding.

    Arase urged the farmers to be careful and take caution in dealing with them.

    The IGP said the police and states now partner on how to build ranches for herdsmen, adding that he earlier discussed with Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    His words: “I have taken suggestions about how we can develop big ranches so that they can stop grazing on farmlands.

    “We should also know about the history of migration. Most of these herdsmen are not Nigerians. They are people from Mali, Chad, who came into our system. So that is why we have to be careful. Our borders are porous. Predominantly, our own herdsmen are law abiding people.

    “But when people come from outside with their cattle, we should not deny them entry because of ECOWAS protocols, good neighbourliness but at the same time we should not allow them to embark on criminal activities.”