VICE president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that about 800 Fulani cattle herdsmen are currently in the custody of security agencies in connection with numerous violent attacks on farming communities across the country.
Over recent years, Fulani herdsmen have been involved in numerous clashes with local communities ad disputes over grazing rights have escalated and resulted in bloody clashes. In many cases, this has resulted in hundreds being left dead as heavily armed herders attack communities with AK47 assault rifles.
Speaking in Texas yesterday at a town hall meeting with Nigerians in the US, Professor Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a clampdown on the herders. He added that the federal government was acting to curb the menace.
Professor Osinbajo said: “The president has given firm instructions to the security agencies to arrest not only herdsmen who are attacking communities anywhere in the country but anyone of them or anyone at all in possession of firearms. There are about 800 of suspected violent herdsmen in the country that are currently in custody.”
He, however, decried the slow pace of the criminal justice system which is affecting the prompt trial of such suspects. Professor Osinbajo reminded the audience that the issue of killings by such violent herdsmen had been a perennial issue especially as grazing lands continued to disappear over the years and cattle fed on people’s crops on the farmlands.
He explained that the matter just did not crop up when President Buhari assumed office. Also, Professor Osinbajo cautioned against the tendency of interpreting the herdsmen issue as a religious issue, stressing that it was important for all Nigerians to refuse such divisive narratives and tendencies.
He reminded his audience that there had always been conflicts between herdsmen and communities across the country. Professor Osinbajo said that people should disabuse the notion that the problem had just started because President Buhari, a Fulani, is currently at the helm of affairs in the country.
On community policing, the vice president indicated that community policing via state police is indeed a cardinal programme of the ruling All Progressives Congress. He, however, noted that the party’s agenda could not be introduced until there was an amendment to the nation’s constitution.
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