•Orders total clampdown, insists Benue killing result of communal clashes

•Umahi heads committee to talk with Miyetti Allah

Molly Kilete; Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, yesterday ordered state commissioners of police to as a matter of urgency disarm all militias, vigilantes and other security outfits set up by governors to protect their citizens.

The IGP equally reiterated his earlier position that the renewed killings in Benue State were communal clashes. He was speaking in Abuja when he met with officers with the rank of commissioner of police and above.

He said the Nigerian Constitution made it clear that only the security agencies were empowered to carry arms and ammunition.

Idris did not, however, state whether or not the same law applied to Fulani herdsmen accused of carrying sophisticated weapons and killing innocent citizens.

He said: “We are entering a very tedious and serious situations in this country.

“The political issues are coming up to the fore and officers must gear up in our various locations, in our various responsibilities to ensure that we provide law and order all over Nigerian.

“We are now coming into a political arena. Commands should be very conversant about the arming of militiamen or vigilante.

“Before a vigilante is established by government, you must have a bi-law, which must be passed by the house of assembly.

“It is the responsibility of the commissioners of police of the commands to study these bi-laws and see how they conform with the constitution and other laws of this country.

“But whereby through the connivance of some police officers you have a command arming militiamen under several names. Our officers are to brace up to face these challenges.

“No country, no government in this country have the responsibility to approve some prohibited firearms to any Nigerian under any guise.

“It is the responsibilities of CPs of commands to put close watch on the activities of some of these governors arming individuals, which is against the laws of this country.

“All of us are aware about these prohibited firearms. You cannot give approval for any individual to own a pistol. You cannot give an approval for any individual to own an AK-47, riffle.

“These are prohibited weapons and only the government has that authority to give that approval.

“I want to call on our commissioners of police of various commands, you have to be on the watch out for these abuses at various levels.”

To justify his claim that the incidents were communal clashes, Idris said: “About two or three days back, we had an incident we are investigating in Gboko, where seven Fulani men in pubic transport traveling to Taraba State and stopped at Gboko. The youths there seeing they were Fulani just pounced on them, killed and roasted them.

“I dispatched our monitoring team to Benue and arrests were made in that area and we are going to investigate it thoroughly.

“These are clashes occurring between two members of the community. As Nigerians, we should learn to live together, we should learn to be tolerant of each other.

“When I had a briefing with the traditional rulers in Port-Harcourt, I told them they have a lot to do to bring peace and harmony within their community members.

“This country needs leaders who should unite the communities, not leaders who create divisions.”

On why he was still in Abuja, despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to him to relocate to Benue, the IGP said:

“I was there for about eight days and when I was coming back, I left the DIG there.

“I came back from Port Harcourt yesterday (Wednesday). The situations in Benue and Nasarawa states have reduced drastically.”

Meanwhile, the National Economic Council meeting (NEC), headed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday set up another sub-committee headed by Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, to meet with Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, (MACBAN) and other groups to end the continued killings.

The committee could invite others who could assist in holding dialogue with the critical stakeholders to end the killings.

This was disclosed to State House correspondents by the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, at the end of a three-hour meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Others in attendance were Governors Simon Lalong (Plateau), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), Deputy Governors Benson Abonu (Benue), Moses Adeyemo (Oyo) as well as Ministers of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh and Interior, Lt Gen. (rtd) Abdulrahman Dambazau.

The NEC Working Group consisted of governors of Zamfara, Kaduna, Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Edo, Plateau, Ebonyi and Oyo states.

The group was set up to end the impunity that marked the activities of Fulani herdsmen resulting in several deaths and maimings especially in Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Nasarawa states.

Daily Sun had reported on Monday that the Federal Government opted for full military force to deal with the bandits believed to be behind the killings in parts of the country especially regarding the crises often associated with herdsmen.

At its inaugural meeting, the group concluded that the crisis also required a political solution considering the religious and ethnic tones that could easily become exacerbated and possibly worsen the situation if proper and timely care was not taken.

When asked of the progress made to find lasting solution to the crisis, Yari said: “There is progress. One, this committee is a NEC committee established by the Vice President so that this issue of herdsmen/farmers clashes will be put to rest.

“It is a long standing problem since 2007 in some states particularly in my own state, we have been battling with it. The states and Federal Government agreed to have a small committee at NEC so that the situation will not get out of hand, so that it won’t be looked at as an ethnicity crisis or religious crisis.

“We have set up a committee headed by the governor of Ebonyi State, while Plateau and Adamawa governors are members. We are bringing some technocrats who will visit hotspot states, like Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and Zamfara, so that they can interface with the Meyitta Allah and other groups.

“Why we cannot say we can put this matter to rest is because some of them have taken this as a money making venture. Some are criminals who hide under this to perpetrate this act.

“As government, we have to take all the measures despite the fact that the Army, Police, all the security agents are on the field at the respective places, still we have to form this committee to interface with those actors to end the crisis.”


http://sunnewsonline.com/herdsmens-killing-igp-declares-war-on-militias-vigilantes/

Thats right!!!....Tick tock goes the clock..

All i can say is that what the elders(SEs,some parts of SS) saw sitting down concerning buhari,the kids,toddlers and Lilliputians(other regiions) could not and did not see standing on top of Mount Everest......African Proverb

It's alright. Let them make sure it's not one sided.


For your CV, check my signature.
.

What an irony of life!

Disregard the narative
Keep yr arms to defend yr self and family
End of story.

Will Nigeria survive if this injustice against Christians continue? Christians all over Nigeria, watch(be battle-ready) and pray

Tye

Now this is getting out of hand!? Why is the terrorist in aso Rock using state resources to defend a particular ethnic group while others are to be massacred at will? People should read about Bosnia, everything that happened in that country before the breakout of Europe's deadliest civil war since the end of WW2, is now already happening in Nigeria like a script! The militias were formed when it became apparent that the FG was not ready nor willing to protect the farmers/natives, and as a contingency plan, the militias were formed by the helpless and hopeless governors as a self defense mechanism to protect the locals who are facing horrendous ethnic cleansing in the hands of fulani terrorists (already regarded as one of the deadliest in the world by international bodies!). The death of 7 seven Fulanis have rattled buhari because they are his kinsmen but hundreds of middle belt natives are being massacred all these while yet he turned deaf and dumb!! What buhari is doing to the people of the middle belt is worse than what Bashir of Sudan did to the people of Dafur using the jan.ja.weed militia but while Bashir has remained a fugitive since then with crimes against humanity hanging on his neck, buhari has remained free!! The world must be told about the crimes against humanity currently taking place in Nigeria with state support. If that terrorist can be this mien and wicked during a period he is seeking for re-election, then it shows how deadly he will be if by any chance he remains in aso Rock after 2019. Igbos in the North should start making plans now, we have been saying this for donkey years, your investments are better off in Chad, Cameroon, Mali etc than anywhere north of the FCT!! The cloud is gathering fast, we shouldn't be caught napping and neither should we the ones to fight the evil going on Nigeria, we did before in 1967-70 but the whole country with outside help as well, descended on us and till today we are still paying the price. In the event of any catastrophe in the sh!thole, we will be the first to bounce back because of our large diaspora population and investments. The waste are playing Ostrich while hoping that we would be the ones to do the dirty job of challenging the owners of the sh!thole. The useless country is at its wits end and an implosion now seems inevitable. DO NOT RELENT, POST THE ONGOING MASSACRES ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM ETC. Join protests anywhere within or outside Nigeria until the world takes note. The North has gone suicidal, they are envious of the progress the South has made, and won't mind if everything is destroyed so that everyone will be in the same level with them. TWO THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF BUHARI IS REELECTED: EITHER THE WHOLE SOUTH BECOMES A CONQUERED TERRITORY OR THERE WOULD BE A CIVIL WAR, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE MB NOW IS A CHILD'S PLAY COMPARED TO WHAT IS GOING TO TAKE PLACE IN THE MB & SOUTH IF THE TERRORIST REMAINS IN ASO ROCK.

Well said. We will definitely be the first to bounce back in case of any catastrophe. This shithole of a country has actually come to an end. We will end both boko haram and fulani herdsmen menace at once by sending anything fulani out of our shores en route futa jalon in no distant time.

this one na story?

This thing is getting out of hand....



Buharimustgo!!!

t

bubu till 2029

ah ah ogini kwanu

The herdsmen are free to kill us because we are their cows. We don't want to kill back when we ask for Biafra they call us terrorist.

God help.

Pls with 150-200k which phone can I buy

disarm all militias, vigilantes and other security outfits set up by governors[color=#990000][/color] to protect their citizens.

what those gboko youth did was wrong, but no body gave them a choice. the government practically left them to there own fate and the end result is what we are seeing

Can you imagine

Coutinho left Liverpool
Liverpool 4 VS 3 Manchester city
Who's coutinho?? Coutinho who?
Next match
Swansea 1 VS Liverpool 0

Sanchez left arsenal
Arsenal 2 VS 1 Chelsea
Alexis who?? Sanchez who We go kill anybody!
Next match
Swansea 3 VS Arsenal 1

Lmfaoooo

The IGP is stupid. He should direct his anger to the murderous Fulani herdsmen instead. Time and time again, innocent men,women and children were killed, the buffon kept quiet. Just six Fulani were killed the useless man is pretending to be tough. Whether he likes it or not,Fulanis will pay for all Thier atrocities.

IGP IS MAD! BUHARI IS MAD!

Because the master has spoken

E no go better for the ig, buhari and every fulani herdsman on the surface of this earth

Unbelievable! Dis IGP is a disgrace.

Who started this whole menace and went about destroying people's farm and source of livelihood and killing them in the first place? Now, the people have said enough is enough and starts retaliating, you are declaring war on them? This partial and nepotism of the Buhari will end in 2019, whether they like it or not. My people, our mumu don do.

Imagine

.

What about the herdsmen themselve?

His name is IBRAHIM IDRIS.

I'd be very surprised if he said otherwise.