The Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, has condemned the
proposal by the Northern Governors Forum, NGF, to open a register for immigrant
Fulani herdsmen it earlier described as aliens and threats to Nigeria’s
internal security.
Chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum, NGF,
Kashim Shetima of Borno State, told journalists in Kaduna on Tuesday after the
forum’s meeting that it would work with relevant authorities to secure
Nigeria’s borders and register Fulani immigrants entering into the country to
rear cattle.
The chairman of the forum, Kashim Shettima of Borno,
spoke at the end of the forum’s meeting in Kaduna, on Tuesday.
According to him, the governors knew that most of
the herdsmen involved in killing Nigerian farmers were immigrants from Senegal
and Mali.
“We also mapped out new strategies that would be
used by the local Fulani herdsmen to rear their cattle without having to move
across the country,” he had said.
But a statement by the group Publicity Secretary,
Kunle Famoriyo, on Friday, slammed the northern governors for denying
culpability of herdsmen in killings in the country, and for defending them.
“ARG also notes that herdsmen currently constitute a
huge threat, not only to lives, but also to food security in Southwest,” the
statement read.
“Our people, who are largely smallholding farmers,
cannot work at their full capacity, living at the mercy of cows and conniving
policemen.
“This has aggravated the sweeping poverty in Nigeria
and has displaced many of our people. Nigeria’s socioeconomic indices is clear
that farmers, not herdsmen, should get higher priority from government, being a
higher employer of labour, higher contributor to tax, FOREX earning and GDP.
“ARG is therefore gravely concerned that state
governors who swore to protect Nigeria’s constitution are the ones promoting
alien interest.
“Or what logic is there in opening a register for
agents of external aggression? It is shameful that the NGF could not even
pretend and hide its readiness to sacrifice the rest of Nigeria for Fulani
interest in its veiled reference to ‘national integration and cohesion’ as the
solution to herdsmen menace.”
The group blasted the Kaduna Governor, Nasir
Elrufai, for his recent comments on Aljazeera TV that herdsmen who were
responsible for the deaths of Nigerians must be accommodated because Nigeria is
signatory to ECOWAS’s treaty on trans-humane pastoralist protocol.
It queried why ECOWAS treaties are only obligatory
where it concerns Fulani interest as there are other treaties that Nigeria has
ignored.
The group also cited the recent ban on car
importation through land borders which Comptroller General, Hameed Ali, said to
have been done to stop influx of illegal arms.
It wondered why the policy could be implemented
swiftly, at great economic loss to Nigerians and despite a Senate order against
it, whereas nothing has been done to disarm herdsmen who freely roam about with
sophisticated weapons.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that Nigerian
authorities will not address the menaces of Fulani herdsmen as should be done
in a sane country and NGF’s latest proposal therefore remains to be seen as a
workable idea,” the statement said.
“This further shows that ethnocentric interest,
rather than the Rule of Law, governs Nigeria.”
ARG stressed that the only workable solutions were
to outlaw open grazing, arrest and prosecute arms-bearing herdsmen, and promote
ranching systems.
“Farmers are paying for land use, why should
herdsmen not? Conversely, if herdsmen are justified to bear arms, why should
farmers not do same?” the group queried.
“ARG therefore hold the view that should herdsmen
continue to get higher priority, our farmers would be right to resort to
self-defence because where injustice becomes a law, resistance becomes a duty.”
Source: Premium Times
No comments:
Post a Comment