Southern and Middle Belt Leaders have called for a probe of the
\nDirector-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Lawal Musa
\nDaura, over his claim that that most of the sophisticated weapons in the
\nhands of Fulani herdsmen are from the armouries of security agencies.<\/p>\n
The demand was made in a statement signed on behalf of the groups by Mr.
\nYinka Odumakin after a meeting of the groups in Abuja at the weekend.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, the leaders concluded that President Muhammadu Buhari has
\nnot lived up to the expectations. They observed that the President has
\nkept mute ovee the killings by herdsmen in Benue State and has visited
\nNasarawa and Adamawa states, while ignoring Benue State.<\/p>\n
The leaders said they remain disturbed by the allegation that solders
\ndrafted to Benue State under “Operation Cat Dance” were circulating
\nleaflets branding the Tiv cattle rustlers, an indication of an attempt to
\nturn victims into villains and erode their capacity for self dedence. In
\naddition, the meeting also expressed displeasure that Internally Displaced
\nPersons (IDP) camps in Benue State have been treated with discriminatory
\nneglect compared to other IDP camps around the country.<\/p>\n
As such, the meeting called on President Buhari to immediately stop the
\nkillings in Benue and other parts of the country by disarming all armed
\nherdsmen carrying illegal weapons and fish out those behind killings for
\nprosecution. It also warned against plans to impose emergency rule in
\nBenue State, saying that a move in the defunct Western Region had dire
\nconsequences.<\/p>\n
The meeting equally demanded an an end to open cattle grazing, saying
\nranching is the modern method. It warned all state governors in the South
\nto reject cattle colonies.<\/p>\n
The leaders also demanded an immediate remodeling of the country’s
\nsecurity architecture, saying the current template on which 16 out of the
\n17 security chiefs are from a section of the country is a violation of the
\nFederal Character principle. The meeting frowned at the culture of
\nunderage voters, which it said was rife in in the recent council
\nelection in Kano State, and demanded a judicial review of the current
\nregister of voters before new elections.<\/p>\n
“Before further elections are held with the current INEC register, we
\ndemand a judicial probe of the voters registry by a panel to be headed by
\na retired Supreme Court Judge and members drawn from INEC-registered
\npolitical parties, civil society groups and the National Democratic
\nInstitute for international representation,” said the Southern and Middle
\nBelt leaders.<\/p>\n
The South-South delegation to the meeting was led by Mr. E K Clark, while
\nMr. Ayo Adebanjo led the South-West delegation. The South-East and Middle
\nBelt contingents were led by Messrs. John Nwodo and Bala Takaya
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
Southern and Middle Belt Leaders have called for a probe of the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Lawal Musa Daura, over his claim that that most of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n