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Gov Obiano explains why herdsmen don’t kill anyone in Anambra

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The governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, has disclosed a strategy that may be of help to many states facing the menace of Fulani Herdsmen.

Obiano’s strategy is coming on the heels of incessant Fulani herdsmen’s killings, which the government of Muhammadu Buhari, appears to have no solution to.

The governor disclosed the strategy he employed to ensure the clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers, which often result in the killings of several innocent Nigerians including women and children, at the Council Chambers of Government House, Awka, in a press conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state.

Obiano while responding to a question on herdsmen attack of communities in the South-East said, “on this issue, I am like the guy who saw tomorrow.”

Disclosing the strategy he employed in handling attacks by herdsmen he said, “Early in my administration, I constituted a committee known as cattle menace committee, which is headed by the commissioner of police, with five traditional rulers and leaders of the Fulani community in the state.

“We agreed in the committee that if the cattle belonging to the Fulani people destroy our crops, they will pay us; and if our people kill their cattle, we will pay them.”

According to the governor, the Fulani herdsmen had defaulted 11 times and paid compensation to the natives 11 times, while the communities had defaulted five times and paid accordingly for five cows supposedly killed by them.

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Obiano said it was established that herdsmen would not be allowed to come into the state wielding AK47 riffles and other dangerous weapons, noting that the arrangement had guided the parties in their actions and conducts.

The governor however said that the state has no plans for grazing reserves and ranches. His reason is that Anambra, as a state with the smallest land mass in the country, has no such land-consuming projects as grazing reserves and ranches.

Noting that the state was in a discussion with an international partner to commence the animal husbandry indigenous to the area, he added that even the state’s small land mass had been eaten up by erosion.

Fulani herdsmen had in an attack in Enugu state during the week killed a Catholic Seminarian and wounded several others.

An earlier attack on the state few months ago, by the same Fulani Herdsmen, resulted in the death of over 20 persons including women and children.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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