FG links herdsmen killings to militias, blockage of cattle routes, anti-grazing laws

THE Federal Government has linked the remote and immediate causes of herdsmen-farmers clashes on the blockage of cattle routes, the establishment of anti-grazing laws by some states and the existence of local militias.

Defence Minister, Brigadier Mmanir Dan-Ali (retd), disclosed this to State House correspondents after the quarterly meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja

Asked if he was justifying the killings because of the blocking or the routes, the minister said: “You are going away from what I came here to do.

However, this is internal security. I can provide some answers. I have told you that the remote cause is part of the grazing law. Since independence, there are clear routes where these people pass.”