‘Alleged killing of cows, a ploy to mask massacres’

A socio-cultural group, Mdzough u Tiv, says the reported killing of 73 cows and two herders in Kadarko, Nasarawa State is a “poor parody and conspiracy script to further downplay the heinous killing of scores of farmers in Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen on new year day.”

The president general, Edward Ujege, said the development was a “mockery of one of the saddest periods in the lives of the Tiv people and indeed the entire federation.” According to him, “we are more saddened when 73 people, including children, pregnant women and old men murdered by Fulani herdsmen on New Year Day, were given mass burial in Makurdi, the Benue State capital are today being reduced to mockery.

“It is very unfortunate that the fabricators of the phantom attacks on Nasarawa State have chosen to further ridicule the Tiv people by seeking to equate the same number of cows with those murdered in the attacks on communities in Logo and Guma council areas of Benue State.We consider it the height of insensitivity, brutality and impunity that a group of people will reduce the precious lives of human beings to the same level and status with herds of cattle.”

He described the insinuation as reprehensible, condemnable and unacceptable, noting: “This poor parody, which is part of a larger conspiracy script to downplay the heinous crime committed against Benue State by the Fulani herdsmen and their sponsors must be rejected by all.”

Besides, the Anambra State chapter of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has appealed to security agencies to step up patrol in the various communities, especially the Middle Belt, South- East and South-South geo-political zones where herdsmen have carried out raids and wrecked havoc on various settlements nationwide.

CNPP, which is the umbrella body for all the registered political parties in Nigeria, urged security men to also treat the herdsmen as criminals, following their reported invasion and killing of people in various communities visited especially in the Middle Belt, South East and South South zones of the country.
 
The coalition, after the briefing yesterday in Awka, in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Oby Kate Okafor and the Secretary, Sir Peter Okala, warned that the continued killing of Nigerians by the herdsmen or any other group of people in whatever guise if not checked, could plunge Nigeria into crisis.
 
Okafor, who decried their action as condemnable and unacceptable, called on the federal government and authorities concerned to stop playing hide and seek game with Fulani herdsmen.

According to him: “They said investors in cattle ranching should be made to acquire fixed capital to enhance their productivity that would ensure revenue to the government and employment to teeming Nigerians.
 
“The CNPP also urged the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Idris, to order the outlawing of the harassment of Anambra people in various checking points where Okada riders are made to alight with their passengers for an endurance trek.“Anambra is not and should not be treated as a terrorist state.”
[ad unit=2