The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, gave this warning on Wednesday in Abuja, during a meeting with the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association.
Olonisakin, who was represented by the Director of Defence Administration, Maj-Gen. Fatai Ali, said that the recent killings involving herdsmen and local communities in many parts of Nigeria, has become a source of concern to the security agencies in particular and the Federal Government.
He however, assured that the military in conjunction other security agencies would do everything possible to maintain peace and security in Nigeria, in line with the directives of the president.
He said: “I want to assure that whoever is involved in this killing will be brought to book and tried in line with the law of the land.
“A committee has already been constituted by the CDS to interface with all the stakeholders on this issue, go to all the flash points, meet with the various stakeholders and come back to report on appropriate lines of action.”
The committee, according to the CDS, would be headed by Maj-Gen, Edward Nzeh, whom he said had visited Benue, and would still visit other parts of the country affected by the recent clashes.
Speaking further, Olonisakin called on all parties involved to sheath their swords and ensure that they do not cause unnecessary casualties.
He stressed that “otherwise the Federal Government of Nigeria will use the full weight of the force and law to bear.”
He added: “We are working hard to apprehend these who have committed heinous crimes in the past. I also wish to state that the military will not tolerate any excuse of armed groups to unleash violence on innocent Nigerians for whatever reasons or guise; innocent people should not be attacked. ”
The Defence Chief also assured that the military would conduct its operations while dealing with the issue of herdsmen in line with rules of engagement.
Earlier, the leader of the Miyetti Allah, Senator Alkali Jagere, noted the Fulani herdsmen might have embarked on the killing spree in self-defence.
Jagere added that “what is happening presently is a contextual one”, stressing that the factors that led to the ugly incident should have been identified and subsequently tackled before reaching this ugly stage.
He said: “In the rural society, there is what we call pull and push factors. What are the pushing factors that are pushing this Fulani herdsmen. When forest were reserved and gazetted for grazing, these problems were not there but the increase in the population has now wiped out the entire grazing areas in this country. Four hundred and something of them, and you have a population of about 20 million cows, how do you keep them.
“When somebody say Fulani man went and killed somebody, I wonder why, how? It is only a poor man that fights, a Fulani man is a rich person, and cannot fight.”
Continuing, Jagere noted: “There is no security institution that Miyyetti Allah has not visited in this country in the course of this thing, because we have seen them coming.
“Fulanis are being kidnapped daily and they are paying ransom, and if you kidnap a Fulani man he has nowhere to report, he has no media to call, he will just sell cow and pay ransom, and the fighting continues. Fulanis are killed like rat in the bush, and nobody reports it.
“Self defence is an act in military profession or in any safe adventure…so when they attack you, you will have to defend yourself. If you have been squeezed you will have to find a way to survive. So the Fulanis have been squeezed and they venture into threading route that they are not there before and people find them very strange,” the former senator explained.
Jagere, however, agreed that reasons he enumerated should not be an excuse for anybody in the name of herdsmen to be killing innocent Nigerians.
He further stressed that the government and Miyyeti Allah must ensure that the sanctity of lives of the Fulanis, any other citizen of this country or herdsmen are protected.
Afterwards, they went into a closed door meeting with the military for further discussion.
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