Stan-Labo Fears Herdsmen Crisis May Be Worse Than Boko Haram Insurgency

Stan-Labo Fears Herdsmen Crisis May Be Worse Than Boko Haram Insurgency

Nigerians are more concerned about the attacks reportedly carried out by herdsmen, which led to the death of scores with several persons injured in some states.

With the recent killing of about 34 persons in Benue State barely four days after the New Year began, a retired military officer Colonel Hassan Stan-Labo is worried that the alleged herdsmen attacks might be worse than the Boko Haram insurgency.

Speaking on Thursday during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the security expert advised the Federal Government to tackle the menace before it gets out of hands.

“It wouldn’t be too far from it (Boko Haram insurgency) because frankly, these things keep building up gradually,” he said.

“And in our normal or traditional manner of handling issues, like some of my friends will say – we keep romancing it until it done on us that look, we are into it as if we are into another Boko Haram.”

The retired colonel stressed the need to address the issue at its present stage as it was already indicating early warnings.

He also compared the attacks on various communities to the activities of the pro-Biafra supporters in the South East, noting that their actions were already portraying them as terrorists.

Stan-Labo said: “Even if it is not as bad as Boko Haram, it has given us all the early warnings, all the signs that are could even be worse than Boko Haram.”

“If we place the tag of terrorist on IPOB – on this very programme I referred to IPOB as terrorists, I would also want to refer to these guys, the herdsmen as terrorists because their actions give them out as that. They might not be flying a flag and sort but they are armed,” he added.

In a bid to strengthen the nation’s security structure, the security expert asked the government to address the shortage of manpower in the police and the military.

According to him, there is a need for government to re-strategise if it must play its role effectively in securing the lives and property of the people.

“I am not particularly too impressed with the way we’ve handled the herdsmen issues, and I have this feeling that we have a serious manpower issue even with the security agencies. Yes, we have serious manpower issues – both the police and even the military,” he said.

The ex-serviceman, however, commended the Federal Government’s decision to support the war against insurgency and other forms of insecurity with an additional fund of $1billion.

He said, “All we need do rather than criticising it is to sit down and say where really do we channel this money into to really give us real impact and I think the crop of leadership in the military has the capacity to determine that.”