DETAILS OF BUHARI’S MEETING WITH ENUGU STATE GOVERNOR UGWUANYI OVER FULANI MASSACRE

Although the police put the death toll from the herdsmen’s invasion of the community at six, residents said that they lost up to 40 of their members.

Before the meeting was fixed, Governor Ugwuanyi had placed a telephone call to President Buhari on the incident but was put on hold.

Four hours later, the President, through an aide, told the governor that he would immediately do something about it.

A disturbed Ugwuanyi was said to have made the call when he learnt that the police had not arrived at Uzouwani, which made him call the General Officer Com¬manding (GOC) 82 Division for help.

When Buhari eventually responded, he declared that his pri¬ority is to end the herdsmen’s attacks on farming communities across the country.

Before his comment, the President had been criticised over his silence on the herdsmen’s attacks which took a worrisome dimension last Monday when suspected armed cattle rearers killed scores of residents of Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu State.

Before then, the herders had also recently mowed down communities and killed several people in Agatu villages in Benue State.

In a press statement issued in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, explained that the President had scheduled a meeting for last night with Governor Ugwuanyi over the incident in his state.

The statement said the President had directed top security chiefs to take all necessary actions to stop the carnage perpetrated by the herders.
It reads: “Following continu¬ing reports of attacks by ‘herdsmen’ on communities across the country, particularly Monday’s attack on Ukpabi Nimbo in Enu¬gu State, President Muhammadu Buhari assures all Nigerians, once again, of his administration’s con¬tinued commitment to ensuring the safety of life and property in all parts of the country.

“President Buhari unreservedly condemns the attack on Ukpabi Nimbo and other such acts of extreme violence against com¬munities in other states of the federation.

“Acting on the President’s directive, the Inspector-General of Police and heads of the nation’s other security agencies are already taking urgent steps to ful¬ly investigate the attacks, appre¬hend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
 

“Ending the recent upsurge of attacks on communities by herdsmen reportedly armed with so-phisticated weapons is now a priority on the Buhari administration’s agenda for enhanced na-tional security; and the Armed Forces and the Police have clear instructions to take all necessary actions to stop the carnage.
 

“In keeping with the President’s directive, the Inspector-General of Police, the General Officer Commanding the 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army and the Director of the Department of State Security in Enugu State have visited Ukpabi Nimbo to personally oversee investiga¬tions into the attack on the community and ongoing efforts to ap¬prehend the culprits.”

Similarly, a meeting of the Ni¬geria Governors’ Forum (NGF) was also scheduled in Abuja on Wednesday and the herdsmen’s threat was expected to be one of the main issues for deliberation.

Also, at the public presentation of a book: “Who Will Love My Country?”, written by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Buhari ordered the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Olanishakin and IGP Arase to declare a full-scale war on the attackers.

The President specifically directed the Service Chiefs to arrest the attackers and beef up security in and around the affected states to prevent further reprisal attacks.

Represented at the well-attended event by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, President Buhari declared that the government would no longer allow such attacks to continue in any part of the country.

He said: “Let me start by condemning in the strongest terms the attacks by herdsmen on Mon-day. I deeply sympathise with those who lost their lives as well as their property. I have directed the Chief of Defence Staff and

the Inspector-General of Police to secure all communities under attack by herdsmen and go after those terrorising innocent people all over the country.”

President Buhari further urged Nigerians to love one another, adding that “the change which we so much desire starts with them.”
The Chairman of the occasion and former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, expressed the hope that insurgency and what he called “Fulani herdsmen’s nui¬sance and harassment” will soon be conquered.

The former Head of State declared that “with the help of God and cooperation of all citizens and firm action of our security forces and leadership, we shall conquer.”

Gen. Gowon, who recalled his civil war experience, said Nigeria is stronger together and that the future remains very bright “if we continue to move ahead together as one.”

He commended Senator Ekweremadu for taking the initiative.

Meanwhile, Governor Ugwuanyi has summoned an emergency security meeting with traditional rulers, presidents-general of town unions and leaders of the Neighbourhood Watch in all the communities in the state.

A senior government official disclosed to The AUTHORITY that the meeting, which is part of a series of actions plans to find a lasting solution to the menace of the Fulani herdsmen, will hold on Monday, May 2, 2016 at the old Governor’s Lodge, Enugu, at 1pm.

He said that the governor is determined to end the inhuman acts of the herdsmen which have consumed the lives and property of innocent people of the state.

 

Igbo monarchs blast S’East govs over docility
In a reaction to the Enugu incident, traditional rulers in the South East have accused governors from the zone of inaction over the atrocities of the Fulani herdsmen.

The Chairman of South East Traditional Rulers Council, HRM Eze Eberechi Dick, who addressed a press conference in Umuahia, Abia State over the invasion of Uzo-Uwani community in Enugu State, expressed shock at the inaction of the governors and political leaders from the region.

He said: “Let them stand up now and speak up; let the masses hear their voices. This matter has gone out of hand and the com¬munities can’t do anything without the governors.”

 

We’ll not retaliate killings, says IPOB
Amid the growing indignation against the herdsmen’s killings, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) on Wednesday said it would not retaliate or encourage the retaliation of the cold-blooded murder of Nimbo people because it is not in its character to unleash violence on people.

IPOB, in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful, said that it has concluded its action on the killing in Nimbo by informing the world that its members will not retaliate.

Powerful said: “It is neither in our character, nor will we play into the hands of blood thirsty dictators who send their kinsmen on rampage as forerunners to their evil agenda to subjugate our people. We remain peace-loving, focused and a well-disciplined mass movement totally committed to freedom.”

SOURCE -AUTHORITY