A group, ‘Concerned Nigerians’ has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, to as a matter of urgency order the arrest of the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum over inflammatory comments made on farmers-herdsmen clashes.
In a statement signed by the convener, Deji Adeyanju, the group said the response of the professor was appalling and called on the Department of State Security to invite him for questioning.
“We have read Prof Ango Abdullahi’s alarming interview and are appalled that someone of his age, stature, education and professional qualification would provide brazen justification for the wanton and senseless murders of thousands of Nigerians by herdsmen.
“ It is distressing that there are people who continue to politicise these senseless killings and who continually provide justification and nuance for them.
“It is also distressing that the political elite in the parts of the country continue to refer to colonial era grazing routes, that involved the forceful acquisition and ceding of the ancestral homes and lands of the Nigerians in parts of the country to cattle herders for use as grazing routes and continue to use such colonial era machinations as justification for the disregard and disrespect for the constitution and laws of an independent Federal Republic of Nigeria and the human rights of her citizens.
“Shielding this brazen disregard for the property rights of whole peoples in intellectual garb is dangerous and provides a distressing setting for continued killings.
“In fact, Prof Abdullahi’s condemnable comments indicate more than just a passing knowledge of the killings, its organisers and what their objectives are. They indeed indicate a deep rooted knowledge of these unfortunate events and a willingness to continue them.
“We call on the Directorate of State Security (DSS) to invite Prof Abdullahi to reveal the extent of his knowledge behind the rationale for the killings. This is in keeping with similar invitations extended to others by the DSS to explain comments perceived by the DSS to be hate speech. You will recall that the DSS even invited the spokesperson to former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida for issuing a statement on behalf of his boss.
“Anything less will prove the fear expressed by many people across the country that there is institutional support for herdsmen to be true.â€
