Bwala’s Character Deficit Stinks!

farmlands with the farmers, who constitutionally own the lands.

Apart from the destruction of their crops by the herdsmen, the farmers in the state have been facing increasing cases of theft of farm produce.

While some farmers chose to sleep on their farms to keep vigil, others pay between N30,000 and N50,000 monthly to vigilantes to safeguard their farms.

Investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Billiri, Yamaltu-Deba, Kaltungo, Nafada, Kwami and Akko local government areas (LGAs) of the state had revealed that farmers keep 24hour vigilance over their yet-to-be harvested crops.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Mahid Abubakar, had told NAN that such a complaint had not been received at the command.

Abubakar advised farmers in the state to cultivate the attitude of reporting such cases.

“If we receive such reports, we will know how to provide adequate security.

“What you don’t know you can’t act on; I am just hearing this from you but if we have a formal complaint from the affected farmers, we will take measures,” he reportedly said.

It is obvious that the police are already overwhelmed and overstretched by the herdsmen crisis and do not have sufficient manpower to handle cases of theft of farm produce.

To curb the clashes between the herders and farmers in the state, Governor Yahaya should adopt ranching as a state policy and stop encouraging the primitive system of open grazing, which cannot provide a lasting solution to the clashes.

Governor Yahaya’s misguided ultimatum to the farmers in the state gives the herdsmen migrating to the south the false impression that they have equal rights with farmers over lands and this impression emboldens them to destroy farmlands and kill farmers who resist the invasion of their farms.

The Global Terrorism Index had in 2015 named the herdsmen as the fourth deadliest known terrorist group operating in Nigeria and parts of the Central African Republic (CAR).

Governor Yahaya should encourage ranching in the interest of both the herders and the farmers.