Oodua group condemns FG’s plan to protect herdsmen with arms
By Akin Oloyede
Statement by the Minster of Interior, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau that armed troops will protect nomadic herdsmen represents a partisan state-sponsored assault on unarmed indigenous communities across the country, the Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) has said in a statement made available to Irohinoodua on Monday.
Dambazau had last week announced the creation of a special unit with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to be deployed to protect the herdsmen and their grazing routes. He made the announcement when delegates from Centre for Crisis Communication visited him in Abuja. Herdsmen have been in constant conflict with largely unarmed farmers resulting in killings. More than 50 locals for instance were killed in Nimbo, a community in Enugu State by the herdsmen early this year.
“The Minister of Defence Interior, Dambazzau has said that troops will now be deployed to protect herdsmen. This suggested that there have been hidden authority backing for the herdsmen who we know are armed ab initio. This is a very strange development. The Federal Government under President Mohammadu Buhari is becoming more audacious in what appears his iron cast determination to brutally protect the Fulani politics and business across Nigeria with the full force of arms, ” ONAC stated.
In a statement signed by the group’s official, Dr Ayodele Orogun, on Monday, ONAC said herdsmen are already armed and have constantly been attacking and killing innocent farmers and locals, saying that providing state-sponsored armed security operatives for the herdsmen is giving official recognition to the violence being perpetrated by the group. ONAC said it appears that the current generation of Fulani leaders are on a daring mission to complete the dream of the late Uthman Dan Fodio whose eternal dream was that of brutal conquest of the other nationalities in Nigeria. "This current generation of Fulani are even more brutal in achieving this goal," ONAC stated.
“We want to ask, will the troops also protect Yoruba sawmillers who travel in the night and are at the risk of armed robbers? Will the troops also protect Ijaw fishermen and women who are daily attacked by sea pirates? Will the troops protect the Yoruba and Middle belt farmers whose agro-products are daily being mauled by the herdsmen? Since the Nigerian troops are private guards of the herdsmen, what will the troops do when the same herdsmen continue their attacks on unarmed villagers and farmers?” It is also a known fact that some of these herdsmen are not Nigerians though are of Fulani stock, the same ethnic stock with President Buhari. ONAC said the issue should have been tabled before the National Assembly but that the Federal Government seems to have concluded plans to deploy the troops to embolden the criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen.
ONAC said the Federal Government appears to listen only to its own voices why the voices of reason appear to have been stifled by the cabal that see Nigeria as a private fiefdom to be dominated and suppressed.