The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called on the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) federal
government to pay more attention to the menace Fulani herdsmen in the
country, especially in Benue State, saying “what is going on in Benue
State is more like an organised pogrom and those responsible for the
killings in the State must be arrested and prosecuted.”
The governor said Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo should be
allowed to function as the president so as to be able to deploy
instruments of the federal government to tackle the herdsmen menace,
pointing out that; “As it is today, it appears that the Prof Osinbajo
does not have the full powers of the president.”
In a release issued on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who
declared support for the new law prohibiting open grazing in Benue
State, said “those opposed to the law are only doing so as part of
their plot to undermine the land and people of Benue State and they
must be made to face the law.”
He sympathised with the government and people of Benue State, adding
that the Federal Government must stop playing ostrich to the menace of
the Fulani herdsmen.
Governor Fayose said; “Like I have maintained, cattle farming is not
different from fish farming, snake farming, poultry farming, snail
farming, etc. Therefore, if fish farmers are providing their own ponds
and poultry farmers building their own pens, while also buying feed
for their animals, there is no reason cattle farmers should not also
provide their own ranch and feed their cows without encroaching on
other people’s farmlands.”
“How can Nigerians embrace farming when those already in the farms
are losing billions of naira worth of crops to destruction of their
farmlands by the Fulani Herdsmen and the Federal Government is not
doing anything about it?”
He described the Buhari-led government’s continuous silence on the
alleged killing of harmless Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen as
unacceptable.
The governor said; “In May, 2016, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria boldly told Nigerians that herdsmen killed over
1,000 Agatu people of Benue State then because over 800 of their cows
were killed by Tiv youths. The man who openly made that comment was
never questioned by the security agent.
“The same Miyetti Allah is now against the Anti-Open Grazing Law in
Benue State, vowing to mobilize its members to resist the law and
claiming that pastoralists like other citizens of the country have the
right to move freely and to reside in any part of the country.
“Does pastoralists have rights to destroy other people’s farmlands,
invade homes and rape people’s wives and daughters? Shouldn’t people
who are into cattle farming be able to provide feeds for their
animals?”
