Bode George Reveals Solution To Farmers, Herdsmen Crises

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has said the only way to stop herdsmen-farmers conflicts in the South West is to ban open grazing.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday in Lagos, George expressed worry that governments at all levels are fast losing grip on protecting lives and properties.

The PDP chieftain lamented the rising ethnic or sectarian tension across the country, urging all stakeholders to watch their utterances when speaking on the conflict.

George, however, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to show exemplary leadership to Nigerians by addressing the country immediately.

He said: “This is the time that President Muhammadu Buhari should demonstrate a rallying unifying leadership to bring all our people together. Surely, this is not the time for ethnic or sectarian jingoism.

“This is the time for healing. This is the time to mend the broken places and rectify the pervasive wrongs. Our people have been living together in peace and harmony for more than 100 years even before the colonialists imposed the rule of gunpowder.

“The widening spread of banditry, the reckless shedding of innocent blood, the bitter murderous clashes between farmers and herdsmen, the loose brigandage, have virtually made all corners of our society insecure, vulnerable to the rule of the cudgel and machete. 

“Governance everywhere is fast losing its grip on the first principles of protecting lives and properties. From Sokoto to Lagos, from Ebonyi to Borno, from Katsina to Ogun and from the Savanah to the rain forest, lives are daily cut down without the culprits being brought to pay for their crimes.

“Road users are kidnapped, brutalized, exposed to un-imaginable kinds of cruelty and then forced to pay ransom.

“We must restructure the Nigerian entity to ensure its survival as a nation. There are so many aberrations thwarting equitable governance in our country.

“The centre is too encumbered with many responsibilities. It is overburdened, stressed with unnecessary functions that ought to be devolved to the states.

“Our federation is only a federation in name, it is more of a unitary system, barking out Command and Control like a military hierarchy.”