PDP Benue Tells Buhari, ‘Treat Killer Herdsmen As Boko Haram Terrorists’

The Benue State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to treat killer herdsmen as Boko Haram terrorists.

The party in a statement on Wednesday decried the attacks on several communities in Guma and Logo local government areas by suspected heavily armed Fulani herdsmen. The assailants also visited arson on properties of the locals on a massive scale which is also yet to be estimated in terms of monetary value.

“It is also out shared position that Fulani herdsmen violence against farmers be graded on same level of menace as Boko Haram and treated with an equally commensurate degree of security attention,” the party said in a statement by Bemgba Iortyom, State Publicity Secretary.

According to the PDP, the barbaric act “qualifies by every standard as terrorism employed in the pursuit of an agenda which is genocidal in character.”

While sympathizing with the victims, the dead, those injured, and the displaced ones wandering about terrorised, dehumanised and thrust into the cruel, merciless embrace of destitution and hardship, Iortyom noted that “there could be no worse form of crime against humanity than that innocent, law abiding citizens in their homes be visited with unprovoked violence and wanton destruction of lives and properties.”

The statement further reads; “We are in alignment with the position of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, that the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari should move quickly to provide security for the people of Benue State from Fulani herdsmen and also bring the perpetrators of these acts of criminality to book.

“Evidence abound that Fulani herdsmen killing Benue farmers, burning down their homes and destroying their farms, crops, farm produce and properties, do not differ from Boko Haram terrorists in mode and method of operation, as well as extent of impact and devastation on their victims.

“It is therefore, unacceptable that President Buhari should continue with the unfortunate trend of concentrating the deployment of the media and security resources of his government solely towards the Boko Haram challenge, while turning a blind eye to the bloody carnage of armed Fulani herdsmen in Benue communities and a deaf ear to the cries of their helpless victims.

“Buhari must, as a matter of duty, urgently shift or share his focus from an ‘already defeated’ Boko Haram to the rapidly growing menace of armed Fulani herdsmen killing helpless farmers and burning down their properties, this in fulfillment of the oath he took to protect one and all Nigerians from harm and injustice, without fear or favour.”