- The minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali says the blockage of grazing routes across the country triggered violence witnessed in some states
- He states that only legitimate security forces are allowed to bear arms in the country
- The military says it is issuing a final warning to all those behind the herdsmen, farmers' crises in Adamawa state
The minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, has blamed the implementation of anti-grazing law in some states as the immediate cause of the killings in Benue and Taraba states.
Dan-Ali made the statement on Thursday, January 25, when speaking with journalists at the end of a meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja, The Punch reports.
He said the blockage of grazing routes across the country led to the violence witnessed in some states.
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Dan-Ali said: "Whatever crisis that happens at any time, there are remote and immediate causes. Look at this issue (killings in Benue and Taraba), what is the remote cause of this farmers’ crisis? Since the nation’s independence, we know there used to be a route whereby the cattle rearers take because they are all over the nation.
“If you go to Bayelsa or Ogun, you will see them. If those routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen? These people are Nigerians. It is just like one going to block the shoreline, does that make sense to you? These are the remote causes of the crisis. But the immediate cause is the grazing law.
“These people are Nigerians and we must learn to live together with one another. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave. Finish!”
When responding to questions if he was justifying the killings because of the blockage of the routes, the minister insisted that the remote cause is part of the grazing law.
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“Since independence, there are clear routes where these people pass,” he said.
Speaking on the proliferation of arms, Dan-Ali said arms are all over the country.
“On the issue of arms, they are all over. In those killings you are talking about, there are also militias that did the killings. Some people were caught with arms and they call themselves Forest Guards or whatever with AK47.
“There is nowhere in this country where arms are allowed to be carried apart from legitimate security forces.
“So, anybody carrying any arm is doing so illegally. Militias were caught in the same land doing the same killings, so the killings are not done by any particular group, it is a communal issue," the minister stated.
Meanwhile, a total of seven policemen and two soldiers lost their lives within the past two months as a result of Numan sectarian crisis involving herdsmen and farmers in Adamawa, brigade commander, 23rd Amour Brigade, Bello Mohammed has revealed.
According to The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Brig-General Mohammed reportedly said this on Thursday, January 25, in Yola while addressing a town hall meeting of stakeholders on the crisis.
According to Mohammed, the meeting is to sound a final warning to those involved that it would henceforth be hard on those who failed to embrace peace and dialogue in resolving differences.
He lamented that elites, politicians and traditional rulers in the affected areas were not helping matters in addressing the problem just as he said warring parties were also fond of overreacting and mostly on baseless and unconfirmed information.
Victims of Herdsmen killing buried in Benue State on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng