By Ovie Okpare
The apex socio-cultural umbrella body of Urhobo people worldwide, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) says it’s in support of the recent call by the Governor of Kano State, Abdulahi Ganduje, proposing a law to ban the movement of cattle and herdsmen across the country.
UPU also appealed to herdsmen to embrace ranching as a modern means rearing cattle so as to forestall the current tension resulting from the atrocities of herdsmen especially in Urhobo speaking area of the country.
The President-General of UPU, Olorogun Moses Taiga, who spoke at a press conference on Friday, said the suggestion by the Kano governor will help address the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
Olorogun Taiga also demanded for an urgent overhauling of the current policing system, stressing that it has failed to address internal security challenges across the country.
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The UPU PG, who expressed deep concern over the deteriorating and niggling security situation in the country, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to decentralise the current police structure to address peculiar security issues various region and ethnicity in the country.
He also expressed fears that the various security outfits being formed across the country could also cause anarchy if not properly formed and formalised by the Federal Government.
According to him, “The level of insecurity in Nigeria has become worrisome. From Sokoto to Zamfara, Katsina, Taraba in the North, down to Ondo, Edo, Oyo and our beloved Delta, particularly Urhobo land, in the South, this story is the same: kidnappings, armed robbery, cult wars, killer herdsmen, farmers-herdsmen clashes and communal strife.
“It is apparent that our current security architecture cannot cope with the current challenges. While we await the impact of the change of guards in the military, there is a present and major need for a total overhaul of the policing system in Nigeria.
“A police structure with a central command is no longer effective and appropriate to tackle our current internal security challenges. Consequently, the UPU reiterates its call for state police and community policing to enable each state and community deal with its peculiar security challenges. Already all forms of security outfits are springing up in states and communities to deal with their peculiar security situation.
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“The executive and legislature need to move faster and formalize the decentralization of the policing architecture in Nigeria, as we have in the United States, the United Kingdom and other big multi-racial or multi-ethnic countries like Nigeria, before the current haphazard springing up of security outfits degenerate into anarchy.”
On the activities of herdsmen, the Urhobo apex leader posited that Urhobo people particularly in Delta State have continued to suffer in the hands of the marauding herdsmen who kidnap, kill, rape and destroy farmlands of their host communities.
“Still on security, the federal government should find a permanent solution to the activities of some of these Fulani herdsmen, who have continued to kidnap, kill, rape women in their host communities and disrupt farming, the main stay of many Nigerians.
“The scars of these herdsmen are still visible in Urhobo towns and villages, such as Abraka, Uwheru and Olomu amongst others. UPU totally supports the suggestion of the Governor of Kano State, Abdulahi Ganduje on the making of a law to ban the movement of cattle and herdsmen across the country to put an end to farmers-herdsmen clashes and also stop the criminality by bad eggs in their midst.
“The herdsmen should embrace the RUGA settlement the Kano government has built. To ensure law and order, the Kano governor has abolished grazing at night to check criminal-minded herdsmen. Night grazing has been one of the complaints against herdsmen.
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“Every Nigerian is free to come to Urhobo for economic pursuit, but criminals are not welcomed in Urhobo land. We are peace loving people”, Taiga stated.
He also called for the return of true federalism where the federating states. It warned that the current unitary system of government is “creating avoidable tension in the polity that can explode in our faces with unpredictable consequences.”
“Nigeria cannot continue to operate a unitary government and colour it as a federal system of government. The UPU reiterates its earlier call for true federalism. While the UPU believes in one Nigeria, the federating units and ethnicities should come together to decide the way forward.
“The Urhobo Nation believes in strong regional structures, control of resources by the federating that will now and pay taxes to the federal government. The federating units should also be in charge of their local security; they should continue to own schools and tailor them to their local needs, same for health facilities, etc”, UPU PG added.
