Okoh To Buhari: Stop Herdsmen Killings

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has called on the Federal Government to end killings by suspected herdsmen and bandits in parts of the country.

AccordiOkoh made the call on Wednesday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, while addressing the Church of Nigeria’s Standing Committee.

He said, “It is disheartening even to describe what these wicked human beings do to their fellow human beings! Their bloodthirsty swords do not recognise children; they pleasurably open up pregnant women and display unborn children. For them, a single cow is worth a community of human beings.

“To further worsen the scenario, the government appears either powerless to curb their activities or is deliberately, purposely and intentionally indifferent.

“The Federal Government had in times past dealt with different groups that threatened the peace of this country. Why is dealing with herdsmen a difficult task for the government? This is a question making Nigerians to lose confidence in the present Federal Government administration.

“The President should take decisive, swift and pragmatic steps towards stopping the killings permanently. In addition, the government must disarm these murderous herdsmen. It should therefore not be allowed to degenerate any further in the interest of all and the Nigerian nation.”

The primate announced the opposition of the Standing Committee to the move to create cattle colonies for Fulani herdsmen around the country.

He said the creation of cattle colonies would give a set of people a preferential treatment by making them indigenes of all the regions of the country.

He stated that ranches should be built in the localities of the herdsmen for modern animal husbandry.

Okoh noted that Nigerians were still yearning for the dividends of democracy and not another round of empty promises towards the general elections of 2019.

He called on the nation’s political leaders and all politicians to work harder to fulfil the promises made during the previous campaigns.

Okoh said, “The Standing Committee wishes to urge the Independent National Electoral Commission to work harder and make the registration of voters as smooth as possible. It is not expected that the challenges faced in registration in 2015 should still be there since INEC has had a long space of time to improve on its work.

“Whatever will disenfranchise any Nigerian should not come from INEC and should be avoided by all. Finally, we urge all eligible citizens to get registered ahead of the general elections.”

On the lingering fuel scarcity, he said, “The mysteries shrouding the problems of fuel scarcity in Nigeria are becoming more mysterious by the day. Nigerians had thought, as we were promised, that if only the price of fuel is increased to N145 per litre, fuel subsidies will be removed, cabals will be eliminated permanently and fuel scarcity will never come up again.

“However, with all the hardship inflicted on Nigerians due to the astronomical hike of fuel price, we had to again face acute fuel scarcity at Christmas, so much so that the country almost came to a halt.

“Furthermore, the issue of fuel subsidy resurfaced in the midst of the crisis. The question is: which subsidy are they referring to? Is it the one that had been removed to hike fuel price or is there another subsidy? Nigerians are expecting the Federal Government to use the funds saved from increasing fuel price to fix the refineries and get them to work optimally, not a return of fuel scarcity.”