What have we done to Fulanis? – Agatu indigene ask
– The indigene, James Idaku called for peace between the Agatu people and the Fulani herdsmen
– Idaku said it is important the people of Agatu who have been displaced due to the crisis be rehabilitated into the communities
Clashes between local farmers and Fulani herdsmen have left hundreds in Agatu
Indigenes of Agatu have gone in search of solutions to the recent killings of its people and invasion of their communities by Fulani herdsmen.
Speaking at a town hall meeting the chairman of the Idoma friendship, Abuja, James Idaku asked: “What have we done to the Fulani people? Three years ago, they invade Agatu, they raped our children, they used axe and they cut them and killed them.”
Idaku however called for peace between the Agatu and the Fulani people.
“We want peace, we want to live in peace, please allow our people to go back their farming business, the rains are here already,” Idaku said.
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Sympathizing with the Agatui people, the national secretary of the Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Othman Ngelzarma said: “We really sympathize with the people of Agatu over what has happen in Agatu.”
We are here to find out as leaders how to reach a long lasting solution to peace in Agatu. It is the wish of Allah to put us – different tribes and religion – within the territory called Nigeria,” Ngelzarman said.
Also condemning the killings in the area, Ngelzarma said the crisis in Agatu is majorly a result of illiteracy and the neglect of environmental needs of the people.
“We need peace even more than any other person in Agatu now,” he said.
Ngelzarma called for the establishment of a proactive committee at the local, state and federal level of government, a requirement of legislature in the area of grazing reserves among others.
“We must move to ranches and develop mechanisms that will keep the Fulanis away from people’s land but before that we need to have some grazing reserves before gradually moving to ranches,” he said.
He further called on the federal government to give adequate attention to the livestock sector and also support the Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association towards educating its members.
“If you consider our policies of our administrations you will discover that a lot of concentration was on agronomics rather than livestock,” he said.
He said: “We are also calling on the federal government to give Myetti Allah attention, support, so that we can empower and improve on the sensitization of the herdsmen against violence, against carrying arms, against causing unnecessary problems in communities.”
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Also speaking, the convener of the One Idoma Initiative, Paul Edeh said this second town hall meeting is aimed at brokering peace between the Agatus and the Fulani herdsmen.
He said the meeting is expected to present the true situations on ground in Agatu, open national dialogue on activities of herdsmen in Nigeria, access government’s response to the massacre of genocidal proportion and engage government and other stakeholders at local state and federal levels for immediate responses (immediate needs for the displaced persons.
“As you may be aware, town hall meetings are a formalized space for regular and ongoing dialogue between citizens, policy makers and service providers,” Edeh said.
He added that: “It is expected that this process that we have started from the last town hall meeting to the current one will bring stakeholders to the table to have a strategic plan that would address the immediate medium term and the long term solutions to the Agatu carnage which is hoped will lead to a durable and enduring resolution of the issue.”
Some herdsmen, on March 5, invaded various communities in Agatu local government area in Benue state resulting to a crisis in the area.
The crisis also led to the killing of over 300 people, a number disputed by the inspector general of police who said that the killings in Agatu is exaggerated.
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