Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state. Photo: ScanNews
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has advised the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, that he inherited the disaster between herdsmen and farmers.
Lalong additionally lamented that he thought his state’s adoption of cattle ranching would cease the disaster between herdsmen and farmers.
The governor stated: “The abstract is that I inherited this drawback. When I was in authorities earlier, we had such issues and we tackled them.
“I thought we had proffered a practical solution which I was already selling to other states to copy, and with this solution we had peace in Plateau for over three years and we were in the mood of celebrating the peace when this one came.”
Lalong stated when the current killings occurred, he “realised that maybe something went wrong somewhere, and that is what we’re trying to find the immediate cause if this problem and try to settle it once and for all”.
“For us, this occasion won't discourage us in any respect. We have taken our stand that we’re going to begin from the place they stopped and proceed to construct on it. We will revisit the structure to unravel our personal native case, after which contribute to the nationwide discourse on the way to have peace on this nation.
“One of the issues I stated to Mr. President was that even the impact on individuals who have been displaced for a very very long time is one thing that sends long-term grievance to folks.
“Any distant trigger to carry again these unhealthy reminiscences tends to make folks take legal guidelines into their very own arms. You see folks have IDPs in some locations that haven’t been recognised for a few years.
“Each time we try to put them together, many of them their houses have been destroyed, they can’t get back to those places. Some people return only to see that others have taken over their houses. That’s why in my speech to Mr. President I said here, we’ll not allow anyone take over another’s land again.”