Gombe moves to prevent farmers, herders’ crisis

In an effort to achieve a harmonious co-existence and hitch-free harvest season, the Farmers/Herders Conflict Resolution Committee in Gombe State, yesterday, held interactive meeting with farmers and leadership of Miyetti Allah.

The committee, led by Commissioner for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Alhaji Mohammed Magaji Getado, with his counterparts in Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security and Ethnical Orientation, Ibrahim Jalo Waziri and Dauda Batari Zamsuk respectively, deliberated on the importance of peace and tolerance.

Getado said that the state government was threatened by the yearly friction between farmers and herders across the country, hence the formation of the committee.

He, however, pleaded with the media to be weary of the likely danger unverified stories could cause the society, seeking co-operation of media practitioners in the state.

He said: “It has been discovered that most crises are engineered and fuelled by journalists peddling fake news. Media will do our young state good by reporting us justly and even when they must report crises, we plead that they confirm such.

“There has never been major crises between farmers and herders in the state since 1960 when the committee was constitutionally set up but it baffles me when it was peddled that two farmers were recently killed by herders.

“This is not only a fake news but also unfounded because we asked around only to discover that it was not true.

“We have realised that little can the state achieve without the support of the media, hence our plea that we be partners in progress.” Also speaking, Waziri explained that “the committee is to sensitise and monitor the activities of our people and to resolve whatever issues so as to ensure peace and harmony between farmers and herders which we see virtually every year.

“Today’s meeting is interaction after which we will call the two groups – farmers and herders leadership across the state for interaction to tell them what we expect for coexistence.

“This is the time farmers harvest their produce. Within this period, there are bound to be movement of herders across the country and this part of the country.

“This committee is to ensure that those problems are prevented before they occur,” he said.

Yakubu Mohammed, a farmer, commended the state government’s move to nip any threatening issue in the bud, especially now that the farmers were just settling for harvest.