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| A herdsman with his cattle in Enugu |
The soldiers of the
Guards Brigade of the Nigeria Army have arrested 92 Fulani herdsmen in Abuja.
The
Punch report continues:
The
Assistant Director, Army Public Relations of the Guards Brigade, Capt. Bashir
Jajira, said that 36 of the suspects were arrested by the troops at a military
checkpoint between the Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa State.
The
suspected herdsmen were said to have told the soldiers that they were on a
mission to recover their stolen cows.
He
said that 56 others who were also armed were arrested by the soldiers at a
military checkpoint at Dantata, along the Abuja Airport Road.
He
said that the troops recovered ‘one pump action gun, 19 cartridge dane guns,
118 cartridge ammo, 28 cutlasses, 3 jack knives, 14 sticks, 7 torch lights,
certificate of occupancy, assorted charms and hard drugs.’
He
said, “A group of 36 herdsmen in Diana Truck and Toyota Camry car with
registration number Abu Kuje 994 FX and Niger SUL 541 XA were intercepted and
arrested at 177 Guards Battalion location by Keffi checkpoint.
“During
the interrogation by troops at the checkpoint, they claimed to be going to
Nasarawa Local Government in Nasarawa State.”
He
said that the arrested herdsmen would be handed over to the police for
prosecution.
This
came just as President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the deployment of military
to all parts of the country currently witnessing bloody clashes between
herdsmen and farmers.
The
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu,
disclosed this while featuring on a breakfast programme of Channels
Television, Sunrise Daily, on Monday.
The
programme was monitored by one of our correspondents in Abuja.
Shehu
said there was no truth in the claim that Buhari had been largely silent on the
issue of the clashes.
He
recalled that the President had taken the issue before the National Council of
State with a view to getting state governors’ inputs to the solutions.
In
the meantime, he said the government was contemplating carving out of grazing
reserves for cattle rearers.
Meanwhile,
no fewer than 23,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the Agatu Local Government
Area of Benue State are battling with the problem of shelter as the rains set
in.
The
Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Agatu Local Government Area, Mr. Joseph Ngbede,
stated this on Monday when Governor Samuel Ortom visited Ugbokpo, Ojantele and
Ataganyi communities of the Apa Local Government Area, where the camps of the
IDPs are located.
The
IDPs are Benue indigenes displaced during the clashes involving Fulani herdsmen
and Agatu people.
Ngbede
said that only the LGEA Primary School at Ayila was standing in the over 20
villages destroyed in Agatu by herdsmen, maintaining that some of the displaced
persons insisted on going to their farms to see what was left of their crops.
On
the feeding of the displaced persons, the chairman said the items donated by
individuals, government and non-governmental organizations as well as emergency
management agencies at the state and at federal levels were being distributed
to them on a daily basis.
He
said those not displaced were also contributing towards the upkeep of the IDPs.
He
explained that the three villages of Ocholonya, Abugbe and Odugbeho that were
occupied by herdsmen had been secured by soldiers.
Meanwhile, the state’s deputy governor, Benson Abounu, has said that Agatu people have been rescued by soldiers.
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