There are strong indications that the incessant clashes between farmers and herders in Benue communities may soon become a thing of the past.
This is as a result of a peace meeting reached between the State Government and leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in the state, on Thursday.
Present at the meeting were some local government chairmen, traditional rulers, the two special advisers on security to the state governor and some members and leadership of MACBAN drawn across the state.
Special Adviser on Security and Internal Affairs, Joseph Har, informed the attendees that the law prohibiting open grazing was still very much enforced and should be obeyed.
The security adviser called for a peace committee between the farmers and herders for strict enforcement of the law, while urging the herdsmen to ask the invaders to leave.
Har said, “As you go back tell your people not to react but be peaceful, we do not want to expose our people to any menace but advise them to remain calm.
“The large influx of cattle into the State is worrisome and disturbing . If you are doing business and someone comes to infringe on it, you will not be happy.
“Tell them to leave or it will be assumed that you (internal herders) invited them, we will not tolerate anyone infringing on our right.
“The Governor’s silence should not be mistaken for weakness,” adding that cattle rearing is a lucrative business and as such, all those who engage in it irrespective of tribes, must practice ranching.
The state ALGON chairman, Philip Achuah, assured the herders that no local government will attack herders and urged his counterparts to liaise with fulani herders leadership in their domain to ensure peace even as he appealed to the herders to talk to the external fulanis to vacate the state.
Chairman of MACBAN in the State, Ardo Mohammed, noted that every herder must be asked to ranch their cattle just as he frowned at the insistence on the herders to ranch while others adamantly refused to ranch.
“Let us be sincere not to bring back the past. We should be sincere about ranching. Why should non Fulani who have cattle not ranch their cattle but they are insisting that herders must ranch.
“As a leader, I do not know all the locations, no stranger can overtake the host. We will collaborate with the government to chase away external herder invaders,” Mohammed said.