Rotimi Akeredolu, Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum and Governor of Ondo State, has claimed that security forces are afraid of shooting herders holding AK-47s in defiance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive because of who they are and where they come from.
This was said by Governor Akeredolu on Monday at the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, which had the theme: “Securing Our Future: The Fierce Urgency of Now.”
Speaking on the contentious issue of grazing, the Governor blew hot, asking, “Grazing routes? Grazing routes to where? It is not going to work. There are things we had in the past.
“Don’t let us imagine it now. Time changes. Grazing with AK-47 is an assault. Ban on open grazing; we are doing it effectively in Ondo State,” he said.
According to him, “Nomadic pastoralist is not a new thing. There were nomadic farmers all over the world. I know of people, high ranking who have ranches today. They can showcase their cows.
“Why are we pushing these people out? It is a culture that must be discouraged in the interest of those who are involve
“Even with the President order that anyone with AK-47 should be arrested, how many have been arrested?” he queried.
He also advised against romanticizing terrorism through semantics, stating that the many criminal operations of kidnapping, bombing, and assault on civilians in some sections of the country that are referred to as banditry must be treated as terrorism.
Governor Akeredolu, his Kaduna counterpart, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, and others were among the panelists at the summit, which focused on resolving the country’s security concerns.
Akeredolu said: “In Ondo State, we don’t have terrorism. Our problem is farmer/herder clashes and kidnap for ransom.
“We have drug abuse and agitation for self determination. We have always preached the multi-level policing in Ondo State. We believe in layers of security”.
The governor, who indicated that while there are criminal infractions that can be dealt by the state, emphasized that prior to the establishment of the Amotekun corps, the Police were not always ready to make arrests.
“Today, if you trespass on other people’s land, the Amotekun will go after you and arrest you.
“They pay compensations to the farmers and when they fail they are in court. It is the only way you can send signals to people.
“When you commit a crime and the hands of law doesn’t catch up with you, another person will repeat it.
“I can assure you that when you do not have an effective policing system, there is little or nothing a Governor can do.
“And the criminal trial is taking too long,” Governor Akeredolu said.
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