The President of the Senate in the Third Republic, Senator Ameh Ebute, has blamed conspiracy theories promoted by some well-placed Nigerians for the narrative that the government of Muhammadu Buhari was responsible for escalation of the farmer’s/herders conflict in the country.
He stated this at a Roundtable with MPs of the British Parliament, January 23, 2019 at the House of Commons, London, United Kingdom.
Senator Ameh Ebute delivered a position paper titled “Tackling the Violence between Livestock Farmers and Cultivators in Nigeria” before an audience that consisted of Chairmen and Members of committees of the British Parliament on Human Rights, Defense, Environment, as well as African Ministers, and a cross section of delegation from Nigeria.
He posited that “violent clashes between two sets of farmers in Nigeria, cultivators, and livestock farmers have been a major feature of the Nigerian security landscape since 2003. These clashes escalated in late 2017 with the massacre of over a hundred people at Agatu in Benue State. 2018 witnessed a further deterioration in the violence.”
“While a responsible government has a solemn obligation to ensuring the safety of its citizens and implementing policies and programmes that engender peaceful co-existence among its ethnic, regional and religious diversities of its population, it must ensure too that crisis between any two groups of its population is not exploited for the selfish and nefarious purposes of its detractors.”
Senator Ebute further argued that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was able to make substantial gains in the fight against terrorism. “Boko Haram was routed from its Sambisa Forest stronghold. The Nigerian military recaptured Mubi, Gwoza, Baga and other major cities and villages that had been overrun by Boko Haram. Coordinated attacks by the air force and the army seriously degraded the fighting capabilities of Boko Haram.”
