Continous Protection Of killer Herdsmen By Nigerian Govt'll Be More Deaths – Benue leaders
By Dotun Ibiwoye
When any government is
being accused of protecting a certain group, accused of mass killings, it is
logical for the government to make a move by investigating the accusation.
The inability of the
government to investigate the killer group will snow-ball into several other
issues.
Some organisations,
the civil society groups, and other ethnic groups have accused the
Federal government of Nigeria of protecting the killer herdsmen that has been
unleashing mayhem and killings in the North Central part of the country.
Today, the leadership of
ethnic groups in Benue State under the aegis of Mdzough U Tiv, Idoma National
Forum and Omi Ny’Igede, have accused the Federal Government of protecting
members of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and killer herdsmen responsible for the
ceaseless killings in the state.
The ethnic leaders through
their Chairman, Chief Edward Ujege were reacting to a statement contained in
the communiqué issued in Kaduna at the end of an emergency meeting of the
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore in which the group allegedly “vowed to do everything
possible to resist any law that is against their culture, movement and economic
interest.”
He said: “We wish to point
out that the leaders of Miyetti Allah cannot and should not continue to use the
enactment of the anti-open grazing law in Benue State as an excuse to
perpetrate their terrorist acts of killing defenceless farmers and other
members of the society in Benue State. The Buhari administration’s failure to
declare the killer herdsmen as terrorists and prosecute the Miyetti Allah
Kautal Hore Fulani Socio-Cultural Association that has embarked on genocide and
ethnic cleansing of Benue people, particularly the Tiv race has given us cause
for concern.
“We, therefore, cannot shy
away from expressing our fears about the impression being created, latent or
apparent, that the Miyetti Allah has become the mouthpiece of the Federal Government.
How else do we explain the body language of the government through statements
by its highly placed officials including the Chief of Army Staff,
Inspector-General of Police, Minister of Defence, and even, President Muhammadu
Buhari himself, in the face of the killings in Benue State?
“We and, indeed, other
concerned Nigerians, are yet to come to terms with the Inspector-General’s
false and misleading assertion that the killings in Benue were as a result of
communal clashes. What about the declaration by the Defence Minister that the
anti-open grazing law in Benue was the cause of the herdsmen killings?
“Why would the Chief of
Army Staff advise Governor Ortom to review the anti-open grazing law to make
for harmonious living by the various groups in the state? Then, President
Buhari, telling the world during his recent visit to America that those
responsible for the killings in the Benue and other parts of theMiddle Belt
were Libyans who were armed by the late Gaddafi.”
The Federal government has
not reacted to the accusations at the time of filing this report.
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