From our correspondent, in Makurdi
The Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria ( MACBAN), Benue State chapter, Alhaji Mohammed Risku, Thursday, said the association in collaboration with the Benue State Government will carry out a statewide advocacy tour of communities located along the Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States to create security awareness.
Alhaji Risku who disclosed this to newsmen in Makurdi, said the advocacy has become necessary in order to educate local farmers and herders about the ongoing peace efforts by various governments, and the need to address the issue of incessant attacks on communities in local government areas located in and around the riverine areas of Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States.
He said that the spate of insecurity and killings by armed bandits has become a source of worry to everyone, adding that the leadership of MACBAN has decided to collaborate with the Benue State government to go round communities in Nasarawa, Taraba and Benue borders to meet with the local communities leaders (Ardos)and chat the way forward.
“We will meet with the Fulani Ardos living around the border areas of Agatu, Doma, Gwer west, Logo, Guma LGAs to sensitize them about entrenchment of peace and security.
“We are also going to move to Wukari LGA and Kanshimbila area of Takum LGA of Taraba State respectively to meet with these critical stakeholders.
“We need collaborative effort of the security agencies, the traditional rulers, government functionaries and leaders of the fulanis to end this crisis between herders and farmers in the State.
“We need to form a collaborative security outfit. Government has been organising meetings without actions. Most of the meetings called by state government are without actions and even if there is action, we don’t know because we have our own plan which we have presented to them but was not approved”, Risku said.
Also speaking, the secretary of MACBAN in the State, Alhaji Ibrahim Galma said that most of the challenges being experienced in the State presently, are as a result of non integrations of Fulani groups in the scheme of things with particular reference to solving the herders and farmers crisis in the state.
He added that experience had shown that there are herders and farmers crises in the State several years ago, where Guma local government area was the worst hit, but that today, the local communities and the Fulanis have cooperated and incorporated themselves and peace has taken centre stage.
“So, the security agencies at Guma LGA are even now at rest because they don’t have problems of attack and counter attacks anymore, except problem of bandits and ordinary criminalities.
“Even talking about the attacks and killings in the Logo and Katsina-Ala axis of the state, there are large armed bandits and criminals inhabited in those areas which cannot be attributed to Fulani herdsmen.
“The entire Sankara axis were inhabited by large number of criminal gangs and those criminal gangs are not Fulani origin. Although,there are few bad fulanis who are also part of them and there are also those local farmers, indigenous youths from the areas who have taken into these dreaded acts due to consumption of illicit drugs.
“This criminal act of kidnappings and armed banditries has made these people to acquire money and also have a very large empty area of hiding themselves especially around the Cameroonian and the Nigerian borders which is a very large empty area, where they are perpetrating crimes.
“So those crimes and criminalities within those axis were not associated with farmers and herders issues. It is completely criminal gangs and those gangs are coordinated. Therefore, this mass advocacy tour that we are going to embark upon very soon will change a lot of things”, Galma said.
