There have been drastic decline in the farmers-herders killings across the country, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said.
Mohammed attributed the drastic reduction to the various measures and actions of the government in tackling the crisis headlong.
Speaking at the sixth Special Town Hall meeting on Farmer-herders clashes in the country held in Gusau, Zamfara state yesterday the minister also reiterated that the clashes have never been of religious or ethnic but an act of banditry.
He therefore urged Nigerians to repudiate those who are trying to introduce religious and ethnic coloration into the crisis.
While declaring the meeting open, the minister assured the gathering that government efforts at taming the situation was yielding result.
He said: “Let me say straight away that the killings, resulting from farmers-herders clashes, cattle rustling, trans-border crimes and banditry, among others, have fallen drastically. Unfortunately, this has not received the kind of media coverage that was given to the killings. I appeal to the media to correct this.
“The drastic fall in the killings resulted from concerted and committed actions by the Federal Government. Measures taken to curtail the farmers-herders clashes, cattle rustling and other acts of banditry include:- Deployment of a Joint Military Intervention Force (JMIF), comprising; Regular and Special Forces personnel from the Army, Air Force and Navy, and working in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force,
Department of State Security (DSS), and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Establishment of the Army’s 2 Battalion Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Kanfanin Doka Village, Birnin-Gwari, Kaduna State.
Establishment of a new Area Command and two additional Divisional Police Headquarters in the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. – Establishment by Nigerian Air Force of Quick Response Wings (QRW) in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States, and deployment of Special Forces to these Quick Response Wings. The inauguration, by the Nigeria Police Force, of a new Mobile Squadron in Takum, Taraba State.
And Operation ‘Whirl Stroke’, operating in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara states, to tackle the menace of armed herdsmen, cattle rustlers, communal militias, kidnappers and other bandits.
“I have no doubt that the good people of Zamfara can testify to the drastic reduction in the activities of cattle rustlers and other bandits in the state since the Federal Government assembled a 1000-strong military force, comprising the army, air force, police and the civil defence, to launch fierce attacks on the bandits terrorizing the villages and towns of Zamfara State. The situation will continue to improve until the violence has stopped.
“Your Excellency, Honorable Ministers, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by repeating what I have always said: The killings that we have witnessed in the country have nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. As I have always cited, those rustling cattle in Zamfara are largely Hausa/Fulani and Muslim. Those whose cattle are rustled are largely Hausa/Fulani and Muslim. Where is ethnicity? Where is religion in this? And in Kebbi, more than 70 per cent of inmates in the state prison are there because of farmers-herders clash. Yet, the farmers are mostly Hausa/Fulani and Muslim, and the herders are mostly Hausa/Fulani and Muslim. Ethnicity and religion play no role!
“Those who are bent on exploiting our national fault lines have distorted the narrative to give the killings ethnic and religious coloration, and this has aggravated the killings. We must repudiate them, even as the Federal Government continues to consolidate on the successful efforts to end the killings.”