GOC brokers peace with warring parties

THE General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanised division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, has said the military had succeeded in bringing together the traditional rulers and Fulani herdsmen in  the crisis that engulfed the southern Kaduna in recent times.

Oyebade  also said that stakeholders agreed for the immediate stoppage of any form of violent activity, illegal display of arms and hiring of machinery to cause violence or carry out attacks in the area.

Reading the resolutions of the meeting held behind closed doors for over five hours at the Nigerian Army School of Artillery in Kachia, the GOC said, the meeting also resolved to stop children from grazing cattle, having identified such as, one of the sources of farmer/herdsmen clash.

Reading the resolution , the GOC stated:  “We agreed that, there will be immediate stoppage to all forms of violent activities from all the stakeholders

‘We want to encourage the setting up of peace and reconciliation committees at the ward levels, district level and the local government level by the Fulani herdsmen, the locals and other critical stakeholders in the various communities.’

Their focus will be to continue the effort which is started here today to deal with all the local issues that may trigger any form of violent activities.

“It has also been agreed that children will stop being at the helms of grazing cattle in Kaduna state and in the North West zone, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has made that commitment that they are going to make sure that all children are prevented from shepherding their cattle because it has been identified as one of the areas of conflict because they do not know much about area that they are not suppose to graze their cattle.

“Any destruction of farm lands or killing of cattle, the perpetrators will be brought before the committees that will be set up by the various levels with the aim of administering justice to make sure that if there are penalties to be paid, they should be done after being agreed by members of the committee at the various levels.

“It has also been agreed that within the next few days, efforts will be made at all levels to call all their members including the youth, the Fulani herdsmen from carrying weapons when moving around, the use of weapons by anybody other than the security forces is absolutely and completely illegal.

The security officers and agencies will take decisive actions against any group that violates this decision effective from 1st November, 2016.“We will not tolerate open display of arms by any group and we want to implore all of you to send the message across to all your people that the use of arms is prohibited and a violation of the laws of the country.

“We want to urge you all to get this message across to all your youth, any form of crime that may be committed in the days and weeks to come, efforts should be made through the ward level to resolve it and where it cannot be resolved to make the appropriate reporting to the security agencies, in this case, the Nigeria Police as the lead agency in our internal security operations.