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Edo State Government has banned night grazing, the carrying of guns by herdsmen and set up a seven-member committee in each of the 18 local government areas in the state to check clashes between herdsmen and farmers.
The committee will include the chairmen or heads of the councils, the divisional police officers (DPOs), representatives of Department of State Services (DSS) and four representatives from the communities in the state.
Governor Godwin Obaseki, who presided over a stakeholders’ meeting with the heads of Hausa/Fulani from the 18 Local government areas urged the committee to “review cases of herdsmen/farmer clashes in the local government areas.”
He said the government would release the report of clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the state to the committees for review.
“The committees will ensure the registration of all the Seriki Fulani in every community across all the local government areas and the Seriki Fulani will liaise with everyone rearing cattle in the area,” he said.
The governor said there will be another committee that will be headed by him (the governor) and members of the committee will include the state Commissioner of Police, the DSS Director, the Commander of 4 Brigade with other members drawn from the communities across the three senatorial districts.
“Every three months, we will meet with representatives of the local government committees to review and examine the progress being made in resolving the herdsmen/farmers’ clashes in the state.
“A special team made up of the police, army, Civil Defence Corps and other security agencies in the state will carry out random patrols and search operations. Any herdsman found possessing firearms will be arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms.
“We will not accept anyone with firearms and anyone found with arms will face the law. We need information to succeed in this fight and information is vital to the police and other security agencies. We assure you of your safety.
“We have placed a ban on night herding; nobody should herd their cattle at night. We have also placed a ban on activities by people from other states in the name of hunting.”
Chairman, Edo State Hausa Community, Alhaji Badamasi Saleh, requested that “mechanism should be put in place to protect the sources of security information as most members of the communities find it difficult to volunteer information to the security agencies as they fear that their identities would not be protected.”
Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, representing the Hausa/Fulani community in Edo Central Senatorial District, pledged that “the Hausa/Fulani community is ready to cooperate with the state government and work with the security agencies to fish out any member of their communities who engages in criminal activities.”
Alhaji Abdulkareem Ibraheem, representing the Hausa/Fulani community in Edo South, urged the state government to provide the necessary logistics that will aid the task of the monitoring committees in the various local government areas.
Commissioner of Police, thanked members of the Hausa/Fulani community for finding the time to attend the meeting and assured that with their support, the clash between herdsmen and farmers will be checked.
Meanwhile, Obaseki has disclosed that the state government is finalising arrangements to reopen the EdoJobs portal on March 1, 2018.