…To meet with govs over herders’ saga
As a result of the herdsmen crisis in the country, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) on Friday alleged that some groups and persons were fuelling tension in order to achieve selfish aims.
According to NEF, the country is under threats from those bent on pushing it to disaster for their “nefarious goals.”
It expressed sadness that the forum was constrained to draw the attention of Nigerians to sustained attempts by some people to create tension and fear in the country to achieve their objectives.
A statement issued by the spokesman of the forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, read in part, “The Forum notes the recent communication by the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) to the United Nations. It is an example of lamentable desperation of some groups to erode our security and integrity as a country.”
“It is more regrettable that it is the handiwork of so-called elders who should forfeit all rights to that honour. Northern Elders Forum is constrained to invite the nation’s attention to the dangers of sustained attempts to raise tensions and create fears among Nigerians until, presumably, they lead to a major crisis involving groups and regions in the country.
“In the last few weeks, the Forum has led many responsible groups and individuals to appeal for restraint and respect for the law in the way we engineer developments that cause tensions, or react to them. Now the nation is facing imminent threats from persons who are bent on pushing all of us nearer to disaster, to help them achieve their nefarious goals.
“There are efforts to create multiple sources of falsehood in videos and other inflammatory materials in the media clearly targeted at inciting people to act violently against each other.”
It stated further that, “Allegations of planned or actual genocide are being made with reckless abandon, and even the international community is being lobbied in futile efforts to sell the fiction that some groups are intent on mass extermination of other groups.
“The latest communication by the Yoruba Council of Elders to the United Nations is an example of lamentable desperation of some groups to erode our security and integrity as a country, and it is more regrettable that it is the handiwork of so-called elders who should forfeit all rights to that honour.”
It added that NEF “will continue to work to retrieve the country from the dangerous cliff where it has been placed by irresponsible people, many of them in positions of responsibility.”
