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From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, yesterday, said the Federal Government has no role to play in resolving the clashes between herdsmen and farmers which he noted can be resolved by lawmakers, governors and councillors at local levels.
President Muhammadu Buhari, had through his media aide, Garba Shehu, opposed a recent directive by Ondo State Government that Fulani herdsmen who were not registered should vacate the state forest reserves.
Buhari expressed the concern that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, as a lawyer, could unilaterally issue the quit order without taking cognisance of the Constitution which guarantees the rights of citizens to movement and to live in any part of the country.
Speaking with newsmen, yesterday, the Senate leader said: “We promised to reconvene on January 26, but because of the registration being undertaken by the majority party, we had to extend our resumption by about two weeks.
“This is a kind of crises and my own personal observation is the country is tending towards governance trajectory where some political actors and ethnic entrepreneurs are coming into the process and spoiling the waters. These are existential issues that have set communities that have, hitherto, living together peacefully, against each other either for political advantage or political matters.
“I think these are issues that should be resolved at the local level either through dialogue or give and take. They are people who lived together, they should come together over dialogue at the local level. Prof. Yelena Tamnor has said distant hosts do not quench local fire, the Federal Government is too distant to resolve every communal dispute everywhere. Inter communal disputes should be resolved by the people in the area.
“They should be resolved by political leaders at whatever leaders, at the level of the National Assembly, at the level of the governors and local government councillors to sit down with their people, so that a lot of these issues can be articulated and addressed by the local population. This is what the governors at their levels should do, not to always run to the presidency to solve one dispute here and there How many arms does the Federal Government have?
“This is a federation, and we are all politically responsible leaders. At the various levels, they should sit down and talk to one another on this disputes. I can assure you that in no distant time these inter-communal conflagrations would be resolved. I think the way it may be resolved is in the interest of this country’s unity and integrity.”
“There would be, hopefully, Tuesday or Wednesday, a general motion, I think it will be sponsored by the deputy Senate leader, Ajayi Borroficce.
“When senators discuss, it is going to be very rich because we come from the variety of areas all over the country, who will share their own experiences and, then, on the bases of that, we come up with resolutions that will address some of the issues and make some recommendations that various authorities at whatever level would see what to be done to find solutions.”
