RIGHT without Violence, an NGO, has called on the Federal Government to adopt urgent measures to end the lingering herdsmen/farmers crisis in order to prevent a national disaster.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Right Without Violence is a collection of volunteer legal practitioners seeking to protect the rights of all citizens.

Addressing a news conference in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Wednesday, the Coordinator of the NGO, Dr Ahmed Suleiman, said the appeal was a wake up move.

“Our survival as a nation is at stake. Nigeria is known to play the brink only to draw back to our senses at the last point.

“This has been the usual game; we cannot sit down helplessly and watch ourselves over the precipice into self-destruction.

“We are shock not only by the hypertensive tones of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) but by the dangerous development of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) joining issues last week,” he said.

Suleiman appealed to the federal government to urgently take necessary steps to avert bloodshed in the country in view of the lingering crisis.

He noted that herdsmen were constitutionally bonafide citizens of Nigeria and they have the right to live anywhere in Nigeria just like any other Nigerian.

“We shouldn’t allow Nigeria to be like Rwanda, Burundi or Liberia, where ethnicity threw them into prolonged crisis, because, a house divided against itself cannot stand,” he warned.

The coordinator described the signing of anti-grazing laws by Benue and Taraba states as dangerous and total violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to him, the two states should be held responsible for the loss of lives “which their reckless action portend’’.

“So much innocent blood has being split on the false pretence of herdsmen/communal crises,” while behind this are the nefarious intolerance and inhumanities.

“We call on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, ensure responsibility for every live lost or allowed to be lost.

“Because there must be a security officer responsible for every ward, every district and every local government.

“Failure to protect or report criminal conspiracies beforehand must attract severe penalty, there must be a reliable system of responsibility,” he said.

Suleiman also suggested that no state should be allowed to train a militia group under whatever pretext, saying such development is a threat to national security.

“The report of 1,000 armed militia supposedly trained to enforce so-called anti-grazing law should be investigated and dealt with decisively.

“Enough is enough, we have gone too far! Government must set-up a Special Task Force to investigate all the inhuman killings of innocent Nigerians.

“The investigation should start from Zangon Kataf, to Plateau, to Tafawa Balewa, to Yelwan Shendam, to Ibbi, to Wukari and Mambila,” the coordinator pleaded. (NAN)

– Jan.  31, 2018 @ 20:05 GMT