Herdsmen, cow owners and the rest of us

Sir: The other day, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, technically made the head of cow sellers to take responsibility for any mishap that might be caused in the state by herdsmen. It appears Nigerians are all getting it wrong. Why are people focusing only on the havocs of herdsmen and not on cow owners who actually arm these herdsmen? President Muhammadu Buhari has directly indicated to us that he is a cow owner. Nigerians need to identify other cow owners so that Nigerians may beg them so that their hired herdsmen might stop their destructive tendencies. Let’s face it, the government should handle the herdsmen issue the way it dealt with the promoters of Biafra, so as to end the killings in the country.

The APC has mandated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to advise and reconcile the party. I hope he would be forth right to tell the party that, it was losing ground to its opponents with the non-stop of the killings by the herdsmen all over the country. Tinubu should be bold enough to tell the party the truth about the situation of things. APC has done a lot to change and reposition this country but, the unrelenting killings by herdsmen are the waterloo of the party.

Nobody will remember the good works APC is doing so long as those arming the herdsmen remain unidentified. A few weeks ago, I went to Kara on Lagos/Ibadan express road, my research was alarming but educative. The first thing I learnt was that even though most of the cows came from the North, many of them belong to the southern elite mostly politicians and top civil servants and retired and serving military officers. I also learnt that many of the cows belong to the “untouchable Nigerians” who hold the reign of power in the country. Perhaps, that was why the Inspector General of Police has been so handicapped.

Cow owners in Nigeria should realise that they are in the business of cow rearing like other businessmen and women in Nigeria. And so they should finance the cost of the business and manage its risks.
Sunday O. Ajai.