'Herdsmen and farmers clashes not Buhari’s responsibilty – Obasanjo says

The Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday said it is not the responsibility of sitting President Muhammadu Buhari to address the lingering clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Obasanjo said, “Some of the words that have been coming out from our leaders, particularly from state governors are not helpful! This issue is not a federal issue and another thing I don’t like about it is that when you talk of Fulani herdsmen, people talk of the President.
“Now because the President of Nigeria is a Fulani man, you expect him to solve the problem immediately, that is not his job. And when people make comments like this, it annoys me.
“They say the President hasn’t said anything about this, that he used to be the patron of something…, but I believe that the ranching thing failed because the states and the local governments failed to do what they ought to have done.”

He noted that during the colonial era, there were grazing reserves in most parts of the North, but wondered what had happened to them.

Obasanjo said, “I need to state that it is the responsibility of local governments to take care of them. Now, states should have even done a lot better, but they haven’t, and then when you have cattle rustling, herdsmen and farmers conflict, you try to make it a national issue. But it is not really a national issue.

“For me, the herdsmen are entitled be able to look after their animals but they are not entitled to destroy the crops of the rural farmers, it is unacceptable.”

He, however, wondered how Fulani herdsmen were able to arm themselves with sophisticated guns, but maintained that it was not necessary to take the issue to the National Assembly as it should be addressed at the state and local government levels.

The post Herdsmen, farmers’ clashes not Buhari’s responsibilty – Obasanjo appeared first on Punch Newspapers.