A group under Tiv Professionals Group (TPG) Tuesday called on the federal government to take an unambiguous decision against herdsmen who have formed themselves into militia groups to terrorise Nigerians.
Chairman of the group, Professor Zacharys Gundu, who addressed a press conference in Makurdi the Benue state capital, urged the president to treat militia herdsmen as terrorists and contain their criminal activities aimed at securing rights to the ancestral lands of other Nigerians.
He further urged those sponsoring Fulani terrorists to pause and consider the multiple ways herdsmen terrorism is threatening the unity and security of the country.
He said the activities of the armed herdsmen have led to the death of thousands of innocent Nigerians and created a security situation that is tearing Nigeria apart.
Gundu called on President Muhammadu Buhari to align with the Global Terrorism Index and designate armed Fulani herdsmen as a terror ring and proscribe MACBAN, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) as terrorist organisations.
He condemned the recent attack on Governor Samuel Ortom and urged the team led by DIG Abba Kyari, sent to Benue to investigate the assassination attempt on the governor to be thorough and transparent in the course of their duty by making inquiries that will identify the perpetrators of what it described as dastardly act so as to bring them to book.
Gundu also urged government to investigate link of herdsmen with other terrorist groups.
“Their links with the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) and international Jihadi groups should also be thoroughly investigated.
“TPG also calls on states ravaged by Fulani terrorism to immediately legislate and regulate open grazing. States, nationalities and communities at the receiving end of herdsmen terror must realise that it is their duty and their right to defend themselves for as long as the Nigerian state is unable to protect them and respect their rights to livelihoods on their ancestral lands.
“Those displaced must be empowered to go back and reclaim their lands. They must be compensated and supported to pick up their livelihoods. Benue state must be on red alert because an attack on Governor Ortom is an attack on all of us.
“While TPG welcomes the police investigation into the assassination attempt on Governor Ortom, it also hopes the investigation will not be a cover up, but a thorough and transparent inquiry that will identify the perpetrators of the dastardly act so as to bring perpetrators to book.
“No one should ever attempt to take Benue for granted, not the governor, not the people, not our ancestral lands,” he added.
