Umahi orders eviction of herdsmen in varsity premises
Ebonyi State governor, Engr. David Umahi, has ordered the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Peace Ibekwe Abdallah to peacefully evict herdsmen who settled in the state’s university premises.
The governor gave the order in Abakaliki during the Agric Summit organised by the state government to boost rice production in the state. He maintained that the university environment was no place for nomadic herdsmen.
He, however, opposed the calls for a reprisal attack on Fulani herdsmen in the South East, over the brutal killing of over 30 persons in Ukpabi Nimbo, Uzouwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by members of the herdsmen.
The governor noted that, waging war against the Fulani herdsmen would have grave implications for their commercial nomads.
He added that, those nomadic herdsmen should be allowed to pass to and fro in the state provided they do so peacefully without causing harm to the people or destroying crops in the state.
“Hausa Fulani community in Ebonyi state has a long history of peaceful and harmonious settlement and has not been implicated in any criminal activity. Therefore, those who are nomadic should be allowed to pass to and fro Ebonyi provided they do so peacefully, without causing harm to people or destructing crops in Ebonyi”.
“Those who settled in the university premises must quietly and peacefully be evicted by the Commissioner of Police because the university environment is no place for nomadic herdsmen”, Umahi said.
