Police Seek Proactive Steps To Curb Herdsmen-Farmers Crisis

Police Seek Proactive Steps To Curb Herdsmen-Farmers Crisis

The Abia State Police Command is taking proactive measures to address the crisis between herdsmen and farmers in the state.

Addressing a meeting on Friday in Umuahia, Commissioner of Police Anthony Ogbizi said the Command is committed to keeping the peace across the state.

“We are committed to ensuring that what happened in Benue State does not happen here in Abia State,” he said.

“You can talk about the destruction of farmlands and killing of cows, but not killing of human beings. I want to thank God that we are enjoying this peace.”

Mr Ogbizi, however, stressed the need for chairmen of the 17 local government areas of the state to appoint marshals to assist in checkmating the skirmishes to avoid a major crisis.

The meeting, which brought together members of the Herdsmen-Farmers Conflict Resolution Committee in the state, was convened to proffer proactive measures towards ending the clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Abia communities.

It also had in attendance, traditional rulers, Sarki Hausa, the leadership of Miyetti Allah, and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as well as representatives of security agencies among others.

Issues discussed bothers on the appointment of security marshals across the 17 LGAs, payment of compensations, restriction hours for movement of cows, and monitoring the activities of the herdsmen.

On his part, CAN Chairman in the state, Apostle Emmanuel Agomoh, believes there should be a specific time for movement of cows while the herders should be properly identified.

He said he had witnessed herds of cattle moving into the farm areas in the middle of the night while farmers lamented in the morning that their crops were eaten by the cows.

“I want to say that this committee needs to sit down with the Sarki Hausa community and Miyetti Allah and tell them the appropriate time for the herdsmen to move the cattle,” said the clergyman.

“They cannot be moving inside the village by the wee hours of the morning; there should be a time for the movement and also the owners of the cows should be identified irrespective of their status in the society or tribe”.

One of the traditional rulers Eze Philip Ajomiwe said they do not support violence and are also working towards ending the crisis as Abia people are ‘peace-loving people’.

Eze Ajomiwe said: “I thank God that the traditional rulers in this state have prevailed on their subjects not to take laws into their hands.”

“I must have to say this because delay is dangerous – if the herdsmen destroy our farms, they must be ready to pay for it and if our community people kill any of their cows, they should be ready to pay for it. The state government should stop using state resources to pay compensation, the defaulters must bear the responsibility.

“Imagine, the herdsmen and their cattle entered my farm and were uprooting the yam and eating all the cassava, and they do not care. So, we must do something to prevent a catastrophe so that the peace we desire will be achieved”.

For the chairman of Miyetti Allah in Abia, Hassan Buba, peace can be obtained if the herdsmen and farmers learn to tolerate one another and protect each other.

He said, “I support peace, nobody should take laws into their hand. As a Fulani herdsman, I should be able to control my cattle and the farmland.”

“I need peace because without peace, the farmer cannot go the farm and the herdsmen cannot feed their cattle. I advocate harmonious co-existence because we need each other for our business to thrive,” Buba added.