Investigate the so-called herdsmen

Sir: The Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) condemns in strong and unequivocal terms the wanton destruction of lives and property of innocent farmers and communities across Nigeria by alleged Fulani herdsmen and demands the immediate investigation, arrest and prosecution of the armed bandits and their sponsors.

We regard this criminality by the herdsmen as act of terrorism which deserves urgent attention from the authorities to put a halt to because of its negative implication in undermining peaceful coexistence and ultimately, national security.

We are also disturbed and seeking an investigation by the authorities into the new modus operandi of these attacks without provocation across communities in states by herdsmen who are not pasturing flock, which is quite unlike their style of self defence against rustlers and has fuelled the suspicion that these attacks and killings might have political undertone which is not impossible.

However, we must remind our people that a peaceful, orderly society is in the overall interest of the generality of the people and can only be attained if we keep the peace and allow the security agencies do their job of fishing out these killers instead of rushing to judgment and being misled to stoke up ethnic war on the basis of media reportage of a crime or by eye-witness account which is supposed to go a long way in assisting the constitutionally empowered security agencies in carrying out their functions.

The Federal Government should immediately fashion out plans for addressing the root cause of the incessant herdsmen and farmers’ clashes which have the tendency to snowball into a major humanitarian crisis by seeking collaboration with state governments that are constitutionally entrusted with land ownership for the establishment of commercial ranches for the grazing of herds for a fee in order to create jobs, wealth and produce healthy livestock in this lean financial times.

Nelson Ekujumi,
Lagos.