Presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has advised Nigerians to tone down divisive actions and speeches for collective survival.
In a statement yesterday, the businessman said the age-long farmers and herders’ conflict exacerbated by other security challenges must never be a justification for ethnic stereotyping capable of provoking genocide.
Reacting to rising ethnic tension in the land, Olawepo-Hashim warned that pitting one ethnic group against another and pushing for attacks were ill wind that blows no one any good.
He said: “Public officers at all levels must avoid statements and actions that show support for any party to the conflict, as it has tendency to undermine national cohesion and security.
“On clashes between herders and farmers all over Nigeria, it is well agreed by all reasonable citizens and leaders that a pastoral practice that ruins the legitimate businesses of others must immediately give way to a more acceptable and modern arrangement.”
According to him, the country needs a transition to a system that accommodates the aspirations of poor farmers and herders who have long been neglected by successive governments.
“This is the most urgent task of public policy at both state and federal levels. Perhaps, it is time again to renew our earlier call for devolution of power to the states in policing and other critical areas, in order to lessen the burden on the Federal Government,” he added.
States and local policing, he asserted, may help reduce tension, as security questions requiring prompt attention would be taken at state levels before they fester into broader national crises, providing incentives for centrifugal forces to jump in.
