Govs, Ministers, Security Chiefs Meet In Abuja
Meanwhile, a security meeting involving five northern state governors and security chiefs over the recent violent conflicts between farmers and herdsmen in parts of the country held on Monday in Abuja.
The meeting was convened by the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulralman Dambazau, at the minister’s conference room.
In attendance were the Governors of Adamawa, Jibrilla Bindow; Benue, Samuel Ortom; Kaduna, Nasir el-Rufai; Nasarawa, Tanko Al-Makura, and Taraba, Darius Ishaku.
The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris; the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawa Daura and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Gana, were also present.
In his opening remarks, Dambazau stated that the Federal Government would not tolerate any threat to peace and public safety in any form in the country.
He said that it was the responsibility of government at all levels to ensure the security of lives and property within their territorial boundaries.
“It is against this background that the meeting is convened primarily to bring us together to share our experiences on the security challenges.
“The meeting will then agree on the necessary measures to be taken and apportion responsibilities.
“We are all aware of the noble objectives, policy initiatives and huge investments of the states and Federal Government with regards to numerous development projects being embarked upon, notable among which is in the agricultural sector.
“It is quite unfortunate that we find ourselves confronted by communal conflicts and criminal acts resulting in bloodshed and destruction of food crops, livestocks, agricultural investments, and exposing rural communities to untold hardship,” the minister said.
He noted that the current situation was very dangerous in the northern parts of the country in particular and in the nation in general.
Dambazau listed the immediate repercussions of the menace to include hunger arising from acute shortage of food, diseases and deepening of animosity between ethnic and religious groups.
“Bearing in mind that general elections are just approaching and considering the history of political and election violence in Nigeria, all necessary steps must be taken to ensure the recently witnessed violence is curtailed.
“We must also not allow people, who are bent on sustaining instability for their political interests, to politicise matters of security,” Dambazau added.
After the meeting, the Federal Government gave marching order to security agencies to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of the killings in parts of the country, especially in Benue.
This is as Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Darius Ishaku of Taraba maintained that the anti-open grazing law promulgated in their states have come to stay.
The two governors briefed journalists after the marathon special security meeting.
Ortom, who has been in the eye of the storm, said the meeting among other issues condemned the killings, under whatever guise, adding that all states that have been taken the brunt in the clashes have resolve to synergise with the Federal Government and security agencies to contain the problem.
The meeting, they said, frown at the tendency by a cross section of Nigerians to politicise the herdsmen attack, saying instead the problem should be seen as part of the ongoing security challenges confronting the country.
“We have agreed that killing in any form is not allowed and security men must apprehend such people and prosecute them.”
“There’s no need to politicise this matter, it is the responsibility of all Nigerians, not just Mr. President, or security agencies or governors but that of all Nigerians, and I think that’s the right thing to do. The security men should apprehend perpetrators and prosecute them. And there is need for all to reduce hate speech as it does not really add any value to the development of the country”.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had before the meeting, said that the country was currently passing through a period of anxiety with the high level of criminality going on across the country.
“Nothing is more disheartening than this endless conflict between (farmers and herdsmen) and the criminality that has crept into this whole system of agricultural development.
“We are very saddened by the tragedies that have taken place in these acts of violence, and it is becoming clear that there are criminals bent on causing mayhem,” he said.
Ogbeh said that some of the criminals might not be herdsmen per se but people who had taken to violence as a way of life.
The minister said that while the security agencies were already dealing with the problem, the Federal Government was fashioning lasting solution to it.
Ogbeh said that contrary to insinuations in the public domain, the herdsmen/farmers’ clashes were neither ethnic nor religious in nature.
He said that the problem was as a result of years of neglect of livestock development in the country.
The meeting is ongoing behind closed-door sessions, at the end of which a communique is expected.
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