Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano declared herdsmen carrying guns as criminals and banned them from passing through the state.
Addressing a security meeting comprising security operatives, traditional rulers, youths and other stakeholders in the 181 communities in the state, Obiano said it was unwise to treat such herdsmen with levity because they are dangerous to society.
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According to him, after the last census of herdsmen conducted in the state, there were 77 of them in 2020 and directed the state Commissioner of Police to conduct a fresh census, adding that once the exercise was concluded, the state would no longer tolerate itinerant herders in Anambra State.
Strangely, these strange acts of lawlessness have been tolerated by security operatives, who regularly looked the other way, and this has prompted communities to begin to resort to self help.
He said: “By last year, there were 77 registered herdsmen in the state and I want the CP and the security committee to do a new census. The census will give us their names, phone numbers and their addresses and when we do that it will enable us to know when another herder strolls into the state.
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“Any herdsman that carries AK 47 is an armed robber and we will not tolerate herdsmen carrying guns in Anambra. So anytime any of them is seen, he should be arrested because he is not a genuine herdsman.
“We should not allow itinerant herdsmen to come and cause trouble here. The itinerant herdsmen don’t know the terrain and the routes and so should not be allowed to stay here.
“In the past, herdsmen carried only a stick and, perhaps a knife for killing reptiles in the bush. But this recent development of carrying guns shows that there is something behind it. We will not tolerate the carrying of arms by herdsmen in Anambra.
He added that after the census, the real herdsmen should be properly documented and they should be attending our meetings in the state.
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Obiano said his administration saw the future when it established the herders/farmers committee as of 2015 when most states did not know that the problem would assume the present dimension, noting that it was the reason the state has not had major challenges between herders and farmers in the state.
We cannot allow persons, who do not have respect for the law of the land to destroy our cherished values for peace, love and unity, and impose a new culture of lawless and uncivilized conduct on the vast majority of Nigerians – at a time when the rest of the world are breaking new grounds in science and technology. All Nigerians must therefore resist the alien wave of lawlessness across the country, by speaking up and matching their words with action.
Any visitor to Nigeria must respect the law of the land as it obtains in each state or quit. No state will bend the rules to displease the majority, just to please few stranger elements.Nigerians cannot abandoned civility to please people with strange ideologies.
© ControlTV 2021.
