Categories: News

Your Silence Emboldens Criminal Herdsmen, Akeredolu Tells Buhari

Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo state, has implored President Muhammadu Buhari to denounce the nefarious activities of armed herders.

Recall that, Akeredolu had in January issued an evacuation order to herders occupying forest reserves in Ondo.

He cited intelligence reports linking the herdsmen to wanton criminality in the state and the need to address insecurity in the state as a result of incessant abductions.

The Ondo governor was also embroiled in a face-off with Bala Mohammed, his Bauchi counterpart, over the appropriateness or otherwise of herders bearing weapons.

Speaking when he featured on a Channels Television programme on Monday, Akeredolu said the president’s unequivocal condemnation of illegal bearing of arms will hasten the resolution of the security challenges bedeviling the country.

During the interview, Akeredolu noted the president’s insistence on prosecution of persons found with unlicensed arms would go a long way in returning peace and sanity to the polity.

“If the president decides that he’s going to make any statement, what all of us will expect from Mr president clearly, is for him to at least come out and let Nigerians know, as we know, that he does not support criminality. That is the essence of it. That is enough,” he said.

“The president has said before that if you find anybody with arms that are unlicensed, they should arrest them. That will be a wonderful statement again.”

He also said it would be beneficial to the country, if Buhari would come out to urge security agents to enforce no-grazing laws.

“Everybody in the north, has said ‘no’ to open grazing. Most of us have said so. Let us make a pronouncement on it, then the laws can follow. Laws have been made in a few states, ‘no to open grazing’, and that arms and ammunition must be lawful. If you are not lawfully in possession of such arms and ammunition, then you cannot carry them; the police must arrest,” he added.