Plateau Killings: Don’t Blame Me For Herdsmen Attacks Because I Look Like Them

President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented the criticisms he faces anytime a clash occurs between herdsmen and farmers in the country.

The president, while speaking at an interactive session with stakeholders in Plateau State in the aftermath of the attacks in three local government areas of the state that left more than 100 people dead, said people are “even blaming me for not talking to them because maybe (they say) I look like one of them.”

President Buhari further condemned the attack and condoled with the affected families, the government and people of the state.

“I will continue to pressurise members of the law enforcement agencies directly under me by the Constitution as the Commander-in Chief. About eight days ago, we had a five-hour security meeting of the service chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police,” Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity quoted Buhari as saying.

“What happened here in Jos is very bad. The question of leadership, from your household to whatever you are, is justice. The bottom line is justice.

“That is why wherever I go, I will always appeal to the leadership of the communities, the law enforcement agencies to always have control of their constituencies.

“Whatever is being given to the media, we have to be very responsible about it.

“Take for instance the situation in Benue. The Benue subsistence farmer knows that the Nigerian cattle herder doesn’t carry nothing more than a stick, occasionally sometimes something to cut grass to feed his cattle.

“But the present herder, I am told, carries AK47 and people are even blaming me for not talking to them because maybe (they say) I look like one of them. There is some injustice in these aspersions.

“It is noteworthy that many Nigerians still acknowledge that despite the security challenges, this administration has made notable successes in the security sector.”