…Donates 35 vehicles to security agencies
Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has said
the state was not considering adopting anti-open grazing measure as a security
strategy in tackling the spate of farmers-herdsmen clashes across the state.
Okowa, however, said he believed there were other
effective means of tackling the security challenges posed by nomadic Fulani
herdsmen than the nascent 'Amotekun' uniform security model initiated by the
governors of the South-west states.
Also, the governor vehemently ruled out the
possibility of giving out an inch of Delta State land as settlements for
herdsmen.
He restated his appeal to the federal government to
take a definite position that would make it impossible for criminal elements to
infiltrate the ranks of genuine and law-abiding herdsmen.
Speaking while presenting the first batch of 35
vehicles to security agencies in the state at the Government House in Asaba on Monday,
Okowa noted that adopting a uniform regional security architecture was not
necessarily the panacea to the nagging security headache in Nigeria.
The governor noted that his preference was for the strengthening
of an all-inclusive security mechanism in synergy with the conventional
security agencies in Nigeria, which he said was paying off in the state, and
commended the Inspector-General of Police (IG) for pushing for community
policing in the country.
Conscious efforts should be made to avoid midwifing
into forcing a security model that would conflict with the laws of the Federal
Government of Nigeria, Okowa stressed, saying the decision by the South-west
states must have been based on conviction about what they considered was best
for them.
Okowa stated that Delta State was not in isolation
as far as the security challenges affecting Nigeria were concerned, adding
however that incidents of herders/farmers clashes, armed robbery, kidnapping
and cultism have been on the decline in the last few months.
According to him, "As it concerns herdsmen
menace, on the part of the federal government, a lot need to be done. We need
strong statements on what should be done for the security agencies to further
do their work.
"If you are going into any particular place, it
is fair that you don't walk into a community and seize the place. That is not
right; and, for anybody who carries arms in the name of being a herdsman, it is
obviously wrong. They are not licenced to carry arms let alone AK 47 assault
rifles, and anyone seen carrying arms is a criminal.
"Beyond carrying arms, you don't walk into a
farm and begin to graze on the farmland. That is not the way it should be. So,
there are a whole lot of issues, and we need strong voice from the federal
authorities which will assist the security agencies."
While urging the security agencies and traditional
rulers in the state not to relent in their commendable job of uniting the
people towards securing the communities through information sharing, he said a
lot has been achieved.
Okowa said: "A lot of criminals have been
apprehended, and one thing is certain-we are not giving any land for
settlement-so we need to continue to work hard and liaise with other state
governments in the South-south zone, and also at the national level to ensure
that we are able to achieve an enabling environment for investments.
"I want to first of all thank the leadership of the
various security agencies here and to urge them to continue to do more
particularly in this dry season. We need to find ways to curtail the
criminality in the area because we do know that there are some of the herdsmen
who are civil in their approach. We are also aware that there are Hausa/Fulani
people who have been living in Delta State
for decades, but the criminal elements who are out there trying to maim
our people must be apprehended in order not to destroy the warm relationship
that existed between us.”
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