The Ekiti State Police Command has said that it was ready to enforce the presidential directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that any non-state actor bearing firearms should be shot at sight.
The Commissioner of Police stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting in Ado Ekiti, the state capital held at the behest of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to find solution to the lingering farmers/herders’ clashes.
Mobayo stated that the police in Ekiti are resolute to restore peace between the warring farmers and herdsmen in Ekiti, using the instrumentality of the laws and arbitrate when necessary to halt ethnic tension in the state.
At the meeting, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ekiti chapter, agreed that establishment of ranches will help in resolving the lingering crises between the two groups.
Speaking during the meeting, the Police boss said no efforts would be spared to prevent ethnic clash in the state, saying ‘peace is non-negotiable’.
He said: “We are ready to implement every presidential order against those carrying illegal arms. If you carry unlicensed arms in Ekiti State, we are going to deal with you ruthlessly.
“To those carrying AK 47 without licence, it is like carrying death certificate and hang on it on your head, so carrying of AK 47 by non-state actors is not permitted in Ekiti.”
Mobayo, who described as erroneous, the impression that the Police were protecting the Fulani herders, said his men have been handling all issues that are connected to the two feuding groups in Ekiti.
“We know that Fulani herdsmen most of the time go out of their ways to destroy people’s farms, but we have always been rising up to handle such cases without taking sides. We were being careful because the locals as well used to perpetrate some of these evils under the cover of herdsmen.
“Don’t also forget that underage cattle rearing and night grazing have been banned. If there is any case against Fulani that I am not handling well, you can write a petition against me to the police Zonal office in Akure. I won’t protect any criminal.”
The AFAN Chairman in Ekiti, Mr. Adebola Alagbada, said establishment of ranches remains the best panacea to farmers-herders’ clashes.
“Cattle ranches by government and individuals will help is resolving all these crises. If Chief Obafemi Awolowo could establish ranches across the southwest in 1958, why can’t we do same in this millennium time?”
Similarly, the Head of Fulani in Ekiti State, Alhaji Adamu Abache, called for registration of all members for easy identification.
“It is true that farms were being destroyed, but if we had registered with the local governments, we would have been able to identify these itinerant Fulani killer herders would have been known.
“We are not against arrest of criminals, but anytime they want to arrest, the police and other security agencies must ensure that the criminals are arrested not innocent Fulani herders”.
The Ajero of Ijero, Oba Joseph Adewole, lamented that;” People had been killed in Orin and Isaba Ekiti and nobody had been prosecuted. Some Fulani people are claiming that Nigerian lands belong to them and that they must get it by force. Government must arrest those making such incendiary comments?”
