…Denies killing villagers in Benue, Taraba, others
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Cattle herders on the platform of the Coalition of Pastoralists Associations of Nigeria (COPAN), on Thursday, lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure was a complete failure as far as they are concerned.
The group at a press briefing in Abuja blamed the lingering farmers-herders clashes across the nation on the absence of a just legal system, politicians’ self-serving agendas, security agents’ lack of initiative and ethnic prejudice, amongst others.
They denied that the herdsmen were responsible for the killings in Plateau, Oyo, Gombe, and Benue, among others, arguing that their members were also victims in the crisis.
The coalition, which consists of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), the Fulbright Global Development and Rights Initiative (FGDRI), and the Tabital Pulaaka International Nigeria Chapter, called on the incoming government, to re-strategize and device new means of tackling the farmers-herders crises.
Vice President of the Tabital Pulaaka International Nigeria Chapter, Mr Auwal Gonga said, “He (President Buhari) never engaged stakeholders. Even if he thinks we are not educated, we have members who are former ministers, former governors among us, why can’t Buhari call them engage them. It is wrong for the government to have done so and that is why they have failed. I believe in Asiwaju. It is not about emotion or tribalism. Do you know we have 774 local governments? Each local government has an abattoir. The livestock industry is a huge industry. We are calling on the new government to change policy and strategy . It should create ministry of live stock. Tanzania, Cameron among others have it. We believe this coming administration we do well to unite both the farmers and the herders. Unfortunately, our brother Buhari failed.
MACBAN National President, Baba Ngelzarma, expressed worries over the upsurge of attacks on pastoralists in different parts of the country which he noted has led to lost of hundred of lives and livestock.
According to him, pastoralists are targeted on the basis of their ethnic identities with some even stopped at public highways by overzealous security agents and subjected to inhuman treatment.
Ngelzarma called on the security agencies to nip the dastardly act immediately, arrest and prosecute all those involved to serve as deterrence to others.
He also called on the States Governments to note that activities of the vigilante in the past had only resulted in more heightened reprisals from bandits who have been unleashing terror in the surrounding areas.
“The security agencies in charge of these areas should do more to protect the innocent people who are continuously harassed by this criminal vigilante and the bandits. We believe the security agencies have the wherewithal to put a stop to this dastardly act of cowardice against unarmed civilians.
“We call on the elected officials at both levels of government to be responsive to anything that will escalate insecurity in the country.
“We also urge the pastoral communities in the States to exercise restraint in the face of this calamity that has befallen them.
We call on the Government to set a mechanism of resettling the victims urgently to ameliorate their suffering.”
The group further asked the government provide amnesty for their members who have joined banditry as a result of frustration from losing their families and source of livelihoods to the conflict as a way of addressing the issue.