Killing of Fulani Herdsman: Fayose races to peace meeting with Miyetti Allah, farmers, others over rising tension

*Coomasie, Lalong right on anti-grazing laws as fueling killings – Respondent

*Salutes Bayelsa’s good example of ranching programme

“I won’t accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I therefore plead with everybody to cooperate with us.  I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody.  Cow matter can’t cause problems between us. Oke Ako-Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out,” Fayose said.

Following the tension generated by killing of a Fulani herdsman in an Ekiti State community on Monday, Governor Ayodele Fayose on Wednesday held a peace meeting with Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, farmers, local hunters, security agencies and representatives of the Tiv community in the state.

Warning all parties against turning Ekiti to a war zone, the governor ordered security agents to fish out the killer of the Fulani man killed without delay, adding that the recent measures his government put in place were not cause disaffection but to prevent violence between farmers and herds men.

The slain herdsman, Babuga Dengi, was on Monday  killed in a bush  between Irele and Oke Ako in Ikole Local Government Area of the state.

But Governor Fayose said there would be no unlawful killing in the state under his watch.

He said, “I can’t accept anybody to be killed. If anybody killed anyone, I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice. I’m sad about the killing in Benue but we don’t want brutality in Ekiti.

“I won’t accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I therefore plead with everybody to cooperate with us.

“I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody.

“Cow matter can’t cause problems between us. Oke Ako-Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out.

“When you are entering Ekiti, drop wherever you are coming from at the boundary. You can’t kill Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo or Tiv here.

“From the information so far, the deceased died as a result of  a clash between Fulani herders and some Tiv people, but at that,  we can’t condone lawlessness. We don’t want that type of Benue issue here,” he said.

A communique read by Fayose at the end of the meeting ordered an expanded forum of leaders of herdsmen, farmers, hunters, council chairmen and traditional rulers from Oke Ako and Irele.

The meeting, while noting that the crisis in Oke Ako was between Tivs and Fulani, resolved that the people must live in peace.

The meeting also ordered security agencies to fish out the killers of the herdsman in the area.

“We ask security agencies to do more in intelligence gathering, information and prevention, while we thank them for what they have done so far,” the communique added.

It would be recalled that a former Inspector General of Police and Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, recently said the anti-grazing laws put in place by state governors had fueled the killings in states like Benue and Taraba.

The killing of Dengi is the second time Fulani herdsman would be killed in the Ekiti since the Ayodele Fayose Administration signed anti-grazing law into full force in the state.

But Governor Lalong of Plateau State had also told how he warned particularly Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State against his government’s anti-grazing law talking from his own experience of how he achieved peace between herdsmen and farmers in the North Central state he governs with his ranching programme.

A respondent, who agreed with Coomasie and Lalong in an interview with The DEFENDER, said Wednesday night that governors who disagreed that anti-grazing laws were capable of fuel killings between two parties of herders and farmers as seen in Benue needed to be realistic.

“I mean, how come an arrange for ranching has become cattle colony?  Ranching to my understanding will only stop cattle herders from encroaching on crops areas where farmers work to contribute food security.  This thing is simple but hate and lack of lover can only remind one of how ranching means Fulani takeover of land forgetting that most of the cattle that these Fulani herdsmen herd are owned by non-Fulani people.  That can be seen in even the same Benue where former Senate President David Mark has been said to own 70 percent of cows in the state.  Then what is the problem with us the people?

“Take Bayelsa for example.  Governor Dickson simply put a ranching programme in place and that programme was unanimously embraced by entire people of the state and they are good for it today.  There is peace all over Bayelsa that one would ordinarily expect tension from but no, there has never been any tension in the place and there will never be.  I don’t talk of when politicians want to now play their evil politics but even at that, whoever will disturb the peace of Bayelsa any day over its already successful ranching programme that has brought peace to the state will only end up paying the unfortunate price at his cost,” the respondent said.