Makurdi
A civil society organisation, Benue Valley Initiative, has asked the troops prosecuting Operation Cat Dance in the state to give priority to disarming herdsmen and pushing them out of flashpoints to allow displaced local farmers return to their homes.
Chief of Training and Operations of the Nigerian Army, Maj. General D .D Ahmdu, had on February 7, announced the planned conduct of Exercise Ayem Akpatuma (cat race) covering Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Niger states, beginning from February 15 to March 31.
Ahmadu, who represented the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General TY Buratai, said the mandate of the Operation Cat Race was to include raids, cordon and search, anti-kidnapping drills, road blocks, check points and show of force.
But addressing a press conference at the NUJ House, Makurdi, Saturday, the Benue Valley Initiative led by the chairman, Terhemen Oscar Aorabee (Esq.) faulted the operation’s mandate, saying it would be successful only if it creates the way for the displaced farmers now in the IDPs camps return to their homes.
The civil society group also said, for the operation to be successful, the military must also observe human rights by avoiding raping of women, as was reported by similar operations; avoid subjecting the law abiding citizens to extra-judicial killings, torture, harassment, and intimidation.
According to the group, rather than stereotype and criminalise the local vigilante group and Livestock Guards duly established by law as armed militia, the army should collaborate with them as done in the North-eastern Nigeria where local hunters are part of the Civilian Joint Task Force fighting Boko Haram.
“To avoid making the exercise cat race an exercise in futility and waste of public funds, leaders of Miyetti Allah Kauttal Hore, who owned up to the killings in the state should also be arrested,” it said.
According to the organisation, the call for suspension of the Benue open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law 2017 by Emir of Kano and Inspector General of Police was irrational and untenable.
The group noted that herdsmen were carrying out similar killings in states that have no anti open grazing law.
