Urgent need for legislature on herdsmen

January 22, 2018

COULD it be that some people while advancing their evil deeds want to hide under the Fulani Herdsman’s Shield to get President Buhari out of power in 2019? If the above is the case, why then has it taken President Buhari this much time to bring an end to the killings? These are two nagging questions a lot of Nigerians are asking. Barrister Haroun Ezeh, was blunt when he recalled that the delay of former President Goodluck Jonathan in handling Boko Haram caused him heavily as he lost his bid, basically on that, to further occupy the office.

Some more important questions are being asked in public communication scenes. One is why the Fulani who had been peaceful in their cattle business across the nation from time immemorial suddenly, especially during President Buhari’s democratic regime, would become killers. Again, it is worrisome why the grazing and anti-grazing narratives have come to frontline only during this regime?

Another commentator claimed that the killings ascribed to the Fulani especially in Benue were carried out by military men who disguised themselves as herdsmen with the point that AK47 guns cost so much that the herdsmen cannot afford. He also queried who trains the herdsmen on how to use such sophisticated guns.

The general demand by Nigerians, therefore, is that President Buhari must act decisively not only because he might be interested in seeking reelection in 2019, but because Nigerians deserve to live in peace and harmony. It is one too many stories of innocent Nigerians losing their precious lives to calculated attempts against the leadership by men of disrepute.

Therefore, the National Assembly should quickly enact a comprehensive national grazing law: colony, ranching or whatever nomenclature that will be binding on all states to save further confusion and destruction of lives and properties. The committee constituted by the National Economic Council (NEC) must discover a far-reaching approach to this political and economic imbroglio. The possibility of foreign hands in the whole problem may not be totally ignored.

On a serious note, the government’s stand on security should be fast and decisive. We hear most times that perpetrators of these high-class criminalities against Nigerians would be dealt with. How long has it taken to deal with glaringly treasury looters? How long will killers in the name of politics continue to move freely on the soil of Nigeria? How long will government keep promising to protect lives and properties while innocent citizens are sent to their graves by wicked fellows? Those whose hands are in dirty oil deals, bloodsheds across the states of the Federation, corruption in the pension scheme, corruption in health projects NHIS inclusive, budget paddling, project delay or diversion and fuel scarcity saga are known by their names but are freer than the innocent common citizens.