Senate President Ahmad Lawan has blamed some governors for the herders-farmers crisis and the recent clash between traders at Shasa market in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Speaking with BBC Hausa service on Saturday, Lawan said some of the governors instigated the mob that attacked innocent persons in their states.
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He accused them of hate speech, saying this laid the foundation for the violence recorded last week.
“What happened in Oyo and some parts of South West and South South is due to leadership failure. I won’t blame the governors alone but they are the ones saddled with the responsibility of providing security of lives and property of the people living in their states.
“But what some governors did especially in those regions gave chance to the people to do what is not right. It’s like they gave them licence to do all they are doing,” he said.
Responding to a question on what the National Assembly is doing to tackle insecurity, the Senate President said, “Immediately we resumed, that was what the first issue we discussed, I mean the sad event of Oyo was among the priorities. We said that we won’t allow political leaders to be saying words that will incite violence among people. We also said it is not allowed for an indigenes of a state to say that other people have no right to live in their states, we can’t tolerate that.”
Punish offenders, compensate victims
Lawan, who said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is discussing with governors on the crisis, said the victims will be compensated.
“Yes I agree that the victims should be paid but what about those that were killed? The offenders should be punished. This will prevent such occurrence in the future.”
“If really government wants to prevent such occurrences in the future, then after compensating the victims, the security personnel should trace the offenders and prosecute them. Only this will bring solutions,” he added.
Some of the affected traders shared their experiences with Daily Trust.
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