NEWS LEVERAGE

Solomon Dalung, Former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, has called on the Federal Government to proscribe Fulani herdsmen as terrorists stating that the killings in the Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State are not a herder-farmer clash but rather a genocide of an ethnic group by another.

“We must be very honest in dealing with the Plateau situation, and we must stop pretending that it is a herder-farmer clash, not at all. It is terrorism. It is genocidal because it has met the international definition of genocide. When a group of people attack others to wipe them off from the face of the earth, it is genocide. When you employ starvation to use and wipe out a group of people, it is genocide too.”

During an appearance on Arise TV’s Morning Programme on Monday, Mr Dalung emphasized the importance of addressing the issue of crime by not recognizing the ethnic identities and community connections of the criminals involved. He argued that acknowledging these factors is essential instead of ignoring the problem altogether.

“The Federal Government should designate them with their rightful names, consider them criminals and stop even attaching any identity to them.

“The problem is trying to redesignate criminals with either ethnic identities or community relations. There’s nothing like herder-farmer clashes in Plateau State, these are terrorists. They have their enclave. They rustle cattle of people and grab land; they operate a system of government in the bush.

“These places are known. The securities sometimes say, ‘We couldn’t do anything because there’s no access road.’ I couldn’t fathom that. In a technologically driven economy like ours, will the issue be that of access roads? What happened to drones, cameras and other sophisticated gadgets in the security gathering? If you think of this, then you will come back to the issue of lack of political will because if the political will to solve this problem is there, these people will be given their rightful designation, they are terrorists.”

Mr. Dalung emphasized that herdsmen should be regarded as terrorists to prevent further attacks and the destruction they cause. He pointed out that their operating locations are known to security agencies, which struggle to pursue these criminals effectively.

“There was no farmland with cattle rustled by the community, which resulted in this series of attacks we are hearing. Where they operate from are ancestral lands belonging to the natives of that place. They have sacked them. Most of them are living in Bokkos town, churches and schools. What is happening is genocidal, let us not hide under the Ministry of Livestock because the Ministry can’t do anything about this problem.

“Predominantly, they belong to an ethnic nationality, but I don’t see them as operating in the overall interest of that ethnic nationality. They are criminals and if we do not treat them as criminals, we will miss the poi. We will continue to see visits to Plateau State by government officials, and they will be on top of the situation while the criminals are on top of the situation.”