The Ijaw National Congress (INC) on Wednesday urged governors of Niger Delta states to follow the steps of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa to curb herders-farmers’ clashes.
“The Bayelsa experience in the past weeks with reported violence and loss of lives on both sides should be a justification for other governors in Niger Delta states to follow the steps taken by Governor Diri of Bayelsa,” said Benjamin Okaba, president of the Ijaw socio-cultural group.
He added, “But for his intervention in the violence following the stabbing of an illustrious Ijaw son by a tricyclist who was also lynched in the process, the death toll would have been much higher.”
On April 20, Mr Diri apprehended two herdsmen openly grazing their cattle at Isampou junction on the road and subsequently ordered their arrest and prosecution.
Mr Okaba, who made the call in an interview in Yenagoa, noted that recent clashes that led to the loss of lives called for security consciousness amongst the citizenry.
He said the recent developments in Bayelsa and Delta have made it imperative for state governments to sit up and protect Ijaws by implementing the instrumentality of existing laws.
Mr Okaba said the group had cautioned people in the region to be security conscious amid the security challenges.
“Ijaw people are naturally friendly and hospitable, but our hospitality must not continue to be taken for granted. A tricyclist carrying a dangerous weapon and herders bearing arms cannot be said to be here for business,” Mr Okaba explained.
The Ijaw leader noted that implementing existing laws provides a level-playing ground to ensure that all businesses, including cattle rearing and farming, exist without anyone disrupting the other.
He further noted that sensitising communities’ leadership should complement the legal option on the need for peaceful co-existence with non-indigenes and the awareness that security is everybody’s business.
(NAN)
