Killings in Benue is terrorism, ethnic cleansing, not farmers/herdsmen clash —Fayose

Ekiti State’s Governor Ayodele Fayose has frowned against the tagging of killings in Benue and other Middle-Belt states as farmers/herdsmen clash and described the attacks as acts of terrorism and ethnic cleansing.

He has therefore called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to urgently put a permanent stop to the wanton killings.

The Federal Government has often described killings by herdsmen as emanating from clashes between them and farmers and had on Monday disclosed that it was going to establish cattle colonies as a panacea to the clashes.

But Fayose in a statement on this through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said, “What is happening in Benue and other middle-belt states is more than a strive between herdsmen and local farmers, it has gotten to the level of terrorism and ethnic cleansing.”

Fayose, who berated the likes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for keeping silent while thousands of Nigerians were being killed by herdsmen, added, “Just now, we heard the news of the herdsmen attacking the camp of mobile policemen, Mopol 13 in Benue, killing two officers by slitting their throats. Do you call people who could invade the camp of mobile policemen in a guerilla manner and overpower armed Mopol mere Fulani herdsmen?”

Expressing sympathy for the government and people of Benue State for the alleged murder of 59 people last week, Fayose urged President Buhari to take decisive steps to stop what according to him, is an attempt to wipe the Agatu and Tiv people of Benue State off the face of the earth.

“Nigerians are gradually beginning to see these killings as a case of hand of Esau, voice of Jacob. It is man inhumanity to man, clear cruelty and unacceptable,” he said.

The governor who said all men of good conscience in the country should rise in condemnation of the nonchalant attitude of the federal government on the herdsmen criminal activities, added “What is happening in Benue and other states in the North-central is an issue that President Buhari must have to take decisive steps. We never had killings like these under previous administrations. It is one killing too many!”

Governor Fayose said no one can deny the fact that the Fulani herdsmen have become a nightmare to Nigerians.

“On the Global Terrorism Index, Fulani militant group (herdsmen) operating in Nigeria and parts of the Central African Republic is the fourth deadliest known terrorist group.

“A group declared as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world as far back as 2015 cannot be handled with levity by the federal government as being done presently and the earlier President Buhari is made to realize that his main duty is protect the lives of all Nigerians, the better.

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“Most importantly, the silence of the people does not amount to their inability to defend themselves. And it should be known to the powers that be that everybody in Nigeria has rights to life.

“Taking lives cheaply and brazenly as being done by the herdsmen is the height of evil which no responsible government should allow. The Federal Government must have to take decisive steps to end this pogrom and stop playing to the gallery.

“As it is, police do not have capacity to handle the situation in Benue and we will not be surprised if the herdsmen begin to move from one state to the other to cause further havoc because they are getting away with murder daily. Therefore, the Federal Government needs to do more; otherwise, Nigerians will begin to see the herdsmen as the APC hit group.”

 

 

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