Buhari To Deal With Violence In Southern Kaduna, As Fulani Herdsmen Wreak More Havoc
The Oasis Reporters
January 08 , 2017
It has been revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has given instructions for decisive measures aimed at bringing an end to the recurring acts of violence and destruction in the Southern part of Kaduna State.
Fulani herdsmen terrorists have been making valiant attempts to clear off indigenous people from their territory in Southern Kaduna and establish grazing reserves in the area by the use of arms.
This was revealed by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, who disclosed that the Inspector-General of Police was in the region on Saturday and Sunday to assess the situation at first hand on the directive of the President.
Shehu added that in addition to the conventional policemen deployed in the area, a squadron of mobile policemen has now been stationed there.
“The Nigerian army is also in the process of setting up two battalions in Southern Kaduna while the military continues to carry out air surveillance across flash points of the area,” Shehu stated.
“President Buhari has equally directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to carry out a joint assessment of the situation with the sister agency in Kaduna, SEMA, to determine the level of response required for urgent aid to the victims of the violence.
“These measures should soon ensure the return of normalcy to the region, while the Kaduna State government continues its peace building efforts.
“The President commended efforts of the State government and the security agencies in the steps taken so far to curtail the violence.
“President Buhari has, once again, sent condolences to the people of Southern Kaduna, who have lost loved ones in the recent violence.”.
The Fulani ethnic tribe are principally nomads, who entered Nigeria on the heels of an Islamic jihad led by the Fulani cleric and warrior, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, some two hundred years ago whereby they killed all the Hausa indigenous Kings and established a Fulani dynasty.
In the last couple of decades, the hunger for land and effects of climate change have desperately propelled the Fulani into brutally fighting the indigenous citizens of the North and the Central region as a way of violently displacing them in order to have more land to wildly graze their cattle.
In the process, many minority tribes have been displaced and often killed. Lack of access to their farmlands and produce has driven hunger to higher levels because the Fulani fends them off with sophisticated weapons.
Leadership in Nigeria has often fallen into the hands of the Fulani ethnic tribe, and analysts say this has emboldened them to act lawlessly, easily becoming the 4th deadliest terrorist organization in the world, according to an index by the global terror index watchers.
08 January, 2017, was declared a national day of mourning and solidarity with the Southern Kaduna indigenous people by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the umbrella body of the religious organization. It also claims that over 800 people have been killed in the Fulani herdsmen induced violence in recent times..
The decision of president Muhammadu Buhari to finally. ask that the violence be brought to an end has been received with cautious optimism by the wary citizens who adopt a watchful posture, hoping that perhaps, it may be a fruitful effort.
