Herdsmen killings: Fayose meets Fulani, Benue people in Ekiti, warns against attack

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has met with the people of Benue State and Fulanis resident in the state and warned against reprisals that could spark killings in the state.

Governor Fayose, who met with the people at the government house in Ado Ekiti late evening on Tuesday, also warned against acts that could heighten tension in the farmsteads or in any community in any part of the state, stressing that his government was out to prevent clashes between herders and farmers.

The meeting had been summoned following reports of the murder of a herdsman in the forest between Irele and Oke Ako communities in Ikole Local Government Area of the state, allegedly by people suspected to be Benue farmers.

The reports of the killing of the herdsman, Babuga Dengi, said to have occurred on Monday, January 8, had created tension between herdsmen and Benue farmers, predominantly Tivs, in the state over allegations and counter-allegations of the destruction of farmlands and murder.

Fayose said “I can’t accept anybody to be killed. If anybody killed anyone I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice. I’m sad about the killing in Benue but we don’t want brutality in Ekiti.

“I won’t accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I, therefore, plead with everybody to cooperate with us.

“I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody. Cow matters shouldn’t cause problems for us. The Oke Ako/Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out.”

The governor also charged the farmers and herders to see themselves as Ekiti people, saying “when you are entering Ekiti, drop wherever you are coming from at the boundary. You can’t kill Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo or Tiv here. From the information so far, the deceased died as a result of the clash between Fulani herders and some Tiv people. We can’t condone lawlessness. We don’t want that type of Benue issue here.”

The meeting, which had representatives of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and the leadership of Tiv community in the state, farmers, local hunters and security agents came up with a communique in which they agreed to hold an expanded meeting.

The communique, read by Governor Fayose, said the expanded meeting should involve leaders of the herdsmen, farmers, hunters, council chairmen and traditional rulers from Oke-Ako and Irele communities.

It also agreed that Committee on herdsmen should be expanded to include Fulani herders while urging the committee to be more proactive and report immediately to security committee when they see strangers in their communities.

It said: “We ask security agencies to do more in intelligence gathering, information, and prevention, while we thank them for what they have done so far,” the communique added.

The meeting also ordered security agencies to fish out the killers of the herdsman in the area, saying the tension in Oke Ako was as a result of the problem between Tivs and Fulani, and they resolved that the people must live in peace.