Monarch urges Buhari to treat killer herdsmen like Boko Haram

A monarch in Benue State, Daniel Abomtse, has urged President Mohammadu Buhari to order the armed forces to deal with the killer herdsmen in the country.The monarch made the appeal in Makurdi at a conference on “Herdsmen and Farmers’ Conflict in Central Nigeria.”

The forum was organised by the Center for Research and Management at the Benue State University.According to the Ter Ityoshin, those herdsmen who go about killing and destroying people’s property were criminals who must be dealt with.

Abomtse stressed that if Buhari could decisively deal with the Boko Haram menace, there was no reason why he could not subdue the terrorists who were masquerading as herdsmen.

He said: “What the herdsmen have caused to some Benue communities in Agatu, Mbalagh in Buruku and Ipav in Gboko, as well as in Nimbo community in Anambra State, Godogodo, near Kafanchan in southern Kaduna were criminal in nature.

“If the Federal Government must ensure the security of lives and property, it must deal with all forms of criminality.”The monarch said the planned grazing reserves or routes would not work in Benue because it is a densely populated agrarian area that survives on subsistence farming in scattered settlement patterns.

“There is no land anywhere to give to the cross border-Fulani herdsmen as grazing reserves. Even if such were possible, it would compound the herdsmen’s aggression against their host communities. “Any attempt to create such reserves would be counter-productive. The herdsmen should go to their states of origin to practise their business,” he said.