Oshiomhole denies Fulani herdsmen are behind killings saying it is the handiwork of common criminals

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chairman Adams Oshiomhole has absolved herdsmen of the killings in some states of the federation saying that those involved in the murderous attacks are nothing but common criminals.

 

Over recent years, Nigeria has been wracked by bloody communal violence as repeated clashes between herdsmen and local farmers, particularly in the Middle Belt, has led to hundreds of deaths. Heavily-armed herdsmen have spread mayhem across rural Nigeria, attacking farming villages, killing hundreds, mainly in the Middle Belt with states like Benue and Plateau particularly badly affected.

 

Upon assuming office in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari clamped down hard on Boko Haram insurgents operating in the northeast of the country but has shown a reluctance to deal with the herdsmen as decisively. Himself an ethnic Fulani who also owns cattle, President Buhari has been accused of being sympathetic to the herdsmen and his body language has not indicated he is willing to take the herdsmen on.

 

Speaking in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital yesterday, Mr Oshiomhole said those turning the truth upside down to portray the administration of President Buhari in a bad light were linking herdsmen to all the killings in some states in the country. He assured Nigerians that President Buhari and the country's security agencies were working hard to end insecurity across the nation.

 

Mr Oshiomhole urged Nigerians not to allow themselves to be deceived by the antics of selfish politicians in the country who are trying to give the security challenges in the country an ethnic colouration in order to score cheap political points. He noted that the security challenges were a ploy to portray the government of President Buhari in bad light by portraying all the killings in some states in the country as the handiwork of herdsmen.

 

“Let me urge you to be more careful because this season, people are spreading untruths and people are being hired to turn the gospel upside down. They want us to believe that every problem should be explained in ethnic and religious terms.

 

“We have a problem and we must confront those problems. Criminals must be dealt with individually as criminals and government at all levels must work hard to protect every Nigerian regardless of tribe or religion,” Mr Oshiomhole added.

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