By Segun Bambo Ojomo
The Rebuild Nigeria International, a non-government organisation comprising concerned elites at home and in the diaspora, have outrightly condemned the spate of killings by rampaging herdsmen in the country.In a statement issued by the initiative’s General Secretary, Mr. Ifeanyi Chiazor, the group described as highly worrisome the unabated and wanton destruction of lives and property by the itinerant herdsmen which has made life almost meaningless for farmers who are legitimate owners of cultivable lands, especially around the nation’s food basket.
“ The issue of the continued herdsmen attacks has become very embarrassing that the United Nations had come to branding the herdsmen as a top terrorist organisation in the world, even as the country had continued to battle the menace of the Boko Haram. In a country where two groups are labelled as top class terrorists, nobody needs be told that such a country could easily be in shambles if the government of the moment does not take serious and proactive steps to stem the ugly tide. Any government that has the unity of Nigeria as its prime objective should see it as imperative and a matter of urgency to do all in its powers to curtail the excesses of the herdsmen which already also threaten the nation’s food security apart from the wanton killings of innocent citizens”, the statement said.
“We cannot live up to our expectations and attract the pride of giant of Africa if Rwanda has been able to manage the hitherto crisis between its Tutsi and Hutu nationalities and subsequently emerged one of the world’s haven for foreign investors. In the past, Sierra-Leone and Liberia had similar internal wranglings and unrest and Nigeria played key roles as neighbours in the resolution of disputes in those countries by its activities in ECOMOG. So, why is it very difficult for Nigeria to handle its internal crisis to reasonable resolution point despite its success at resolving crisis in other lands?”, the statement added.
The RNI also recalled a statement earlier credited to Mr. Paul Unongo which claimed that the Presidential hopeful on the platform of the PDP, Waziri Atiku Abubakar was a major financier of the rampaging herdsmen, an allegation the RNI described as “unfortunate and sad” against the person and nature of Atiku whom the group described as a “totally detribalised Nigerian” whose spirit of magnanimity and benevolence has been expressed throughout the country’s nooks and crannies without ethnic or tribal limitations.
