Delta set to tackle herdsmen menace

Determined to check crises arising from activities of herdsmen in the communities, the Delta state government has hinted of plans to form vigilante groups to arrest the menace.
The Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Security, Ogbueshi Cassidy Iloba, disclosed this at a meeting held in Asaba yesterday with Hausa/Fulani leaders and herdsmen in the state.
Ogbueshi Iloba said the vigilante groups, when constituted, would include members of the host communities, Hausa/Fulani leaders and herdsmen.
According to him, the joint vigilance groups would be formed in all the communities and would be charged with the maintenance of peace and security in the various communities in which the cattle hearers operate.
The governor’s aide said government was concerned about challenges posed by the herdsmen menace and expressed government’s irrevocable commitment to address the crises and restore peaceful co-existence among the herdsmen and their host communities.
Ogbueshi Iloba stated aside the vigilance groups as a measure to checkmate the herdsmen crises, government has also embarked on visits to the communities to hold regular meetings with the herdsmen and their host communities.
He said the meetings would provide opportunities to address areas of disagreement as well as foster unity and co-operation in the various communities and blamed some of the areas of conflict on activities of middle men who collect huge sums of money from the herdsmen in the name of setting government officials and the Commissioner of Police.
“Do not give money to anybody who claims to be acting on behalf of government officials or the commissioner of police, Ogbueshi Iloba who addressed the herdsmen in Fulani language, advised.
He said the meeting summoned at the instance of government, was for Fulani herdsmen in the bash and not those in the town, to discuss areas of conflict in order to find lasting solution.
“It is not all the herdsmen that are bad, the bad ones tarnish the image of the good one”, he noted, and cautioned the herdsmen against destroying people’s farms as doing so is bad and capable of bringing problem.
Ogbuehsi Iloba advised the herdsmen to say whatever their problem is so that it would be taken to the governor for solution, adding that in Delta State, strangers are friends and warned middle men to desist from preventing the herdsmen from coming out to hear directly from the government.
He revealed with sadness, the case of a herdsmen at Ossissa whose two sons were killed and beheaded, adding that the bodies were buried without heads. Government, he said, has waded into the matter and is leaving no stone un-turned to ensure that justice is done as well as prevent re-occurrence of such situation.
The leaders of Hausa/Fulani herdsmen who spoke on behalf of their people included, Alhaji Mohammed Kanti, Eldest Fulani man, Alhaji Haurne Golcho, Chairman Miyeth Allah Kauti Hore, Musa Dauru, Fulani Development Association, Alhaji Mekudu Ningi, Alhaji Abdulsalam Yusuf, father of the two children killed and youth leader, Musa Umuru, commended the state government for the meeting and pledged their support to resolution of the crises. They also called for the formation of task force in the various communities to check the crises.
Alhaji Yusuf whose two sons were killed and beheaded on January 26, 2017 at Ossissa, called for justice even as he advised the state government to urgently wade into the matter to avoid further crises.
The co-ordinator of Hausa/Fulani in Delta, Mathew Ujene advised the herdsmen to remain peaceful and avoid acts capable of fueling crisis.
He assured that regular meetings aimed at peaceful co-existence would be held with the herdsmen and host communities. Chairman, Delta State Security Network, Reverend Francis Ukwamedua, stressed the need for the herdsmen to give peace a chance as the meeting would address all areas of disagreement.