Herdsmen’s Menace: OPC Advocates Self Defence Option

James Sowole in Akure

Disturbed by the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to address how to solve the menace of herdsmen in his Democracy Day broadcast, the National Coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, on Monday advised communities to devise means of defending their farmlands and themselves against destruction.

He suggested the move at a lecture he delivered at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Alagbaka, Akure, the state capital, in commemoration of Democracy Day.

Adams who was visibly unhappy with the president’s lukewarm attitude to the incessant attacks on communities, said collective efforts are necessary to curb the menace.

In the lecture titled ; ‘Herdsmen/Farmers’ Clashes: What implication for inter-ethnic Relations, Nigerian Economy?,’ Adams stated that everybody in the communities should be vigilant and resist the invasion of the hoodlums in their areas.

“I won’t say anything more than the fact that every community should be able to defend itself. If you have black power to defend yourself, I don’t see the reason you cannot use it when there is a need for you to use it.

“The traditional rulers should look for ways to defend their communities, we can not rely on police again because police has limit to curb the herdsmen attack because they have to defend their jobs “, he said.

He noted the OPC was being tactical in fighting for the interest of the Yoruba race, stressing that the congress had been reformed and had credible citizens as members.

Adams, who blamed President Muhammadu Buhari’s indifference to herdmen’s activities in the South, said the only way out of the security challenge was for the President to implement the recommendation of the 2014 National Conference.

Further details later