Group Tasks Buhari On Killer Herdsmen
BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – A socio-cultural organisation based in Jos, Plateau State, Berom Youth Moulders Association (BYMA) has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently curb the activities of herdsmen in the overall interest of Nigeria’s peace and security.
The body also noted with concern the Federal Government’s move to establish ‘colonies’ for herdsmen in all the 36 states of the Federation, describing it as a development tainted with ‘skepticism and suspicion.’
Addressing a world press conference in Jos, the BYMA expressed worry over the sustained threats to peace and security in the country, noting that; “numerous unprovoked attacks on innocent and defenseless citizens by the herdsmen have become a matter of grave concern.”
The Association further said; “we are concerned and worried that the government whose duty is to provide security and good governance to its citizens is the same government trying to curdle these herdsmen in spite of their horrendous and dastardly activities all over the country.”
According to a statement read by the BYMA’s President, Choji Dalyop Chuwang, the cattle colony issue is ‘tragic’ to the greater Nigeria project.
The group recalled that “in May 2016, President Buhari told us that the killer herdsmen are from Libya. One week later, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Laid Mohammed told us that the killer herdsmen are not Nigerians. On January 24, 2017, the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum said the killer herdsmen are from Senegal and Mali.”
The Association further said Nigerians should not forget; “the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai stated that he had gone to dialogue with the killer herdsmen outside Nigeria and paid them to stop the killings”, stressing that it is difficult to believe President Buhari and his aides’ claims that men of the Islamic State are those carrying out serial killings in the country in the name of herdsmen.
“There is a serious disconnect in these statements and the quest for cattle colonies. You don’t give colonies to invading foreigners, rather you send the army after them”, the group said, even as it warned that; “For us as citizens of Plateau State, we wish to state in unequivocal terms that we do not have land for cattle colonies.”
