Editorial
Plateau State Killings – Time To Stop Cattle Herding
It’s sad that President Tinubu is directing the governor of Plateau state to stop the killings in the state. This is politics, especially with the fact that the governor of Plateau state, Caleb Mufwang, is from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Governor Mutfwang has no control of the police, military and security agencies. President Tinubu is the Commander-in-Chief, and so, has access to daily security reports. The head of security agencies report directly to Tinubu. So, how will Mufwang take charge of the security situation in Plateau state? As it’s said, power is nothing without control – being the governor of a state does not give any governor control of the military, police, DSS, etcetera.
Lest we forget, the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau state by former President Obasanjo was based on insecurity in the state!
Allegedly, there are facts on ground in Plateau state that the killings are related to land grabbing, ethno-religious colouration, cattle herders searching for arable land for their cows, etcetera.
Cattle rearing is a commercial enterprise, and as a business, it must be run on the basis of a business organization. It’s sad that in the 21st century, Nigeria still encourages cattle herding across the nation! Generally, across the world, ranching is the best, modern method of cattle rearing – it improves the quality of meat produced by cows.
Cattle herding is at the heart of the cause(s) of communal killings across Nigeria. It has become absolutely necessary that the national assembly and president Tinubu must work in synergy to legislate laws to stop cattle herding across Nigeria and encourage ranching.
Until cattle herding is stopped, killings of people will not stop in Nigeria.
It’s sickening, immoral and the height of irresponsibility that the safety of the lives of our people have been subjected to score cheap political points. President Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief, must order the immediate deployment of the military to Plateau state to quell these killings. If not, this may just be another excuse to replicate the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.