Northern Govs Committed to Ending Farmers/Herders Clashes, Says El-Rufai

• Say Bala, Ortom will be reconciled

By Adedayo Akinwale

The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has said that northern governors are committed to putting an end to the farmers/herders clashes by coming up with a permanent solution that will put the issue to bed.

The clashes between the farmers and herders and the activities of killer herdsmen have increased the ethnic tension in the country of late.

The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, and his counterpart from Benue State, Samuel Ortom, had been locked in a battle due to the positions taken by the governors on the issue.

Mohammed claimed that Fulani herdsmen went about with AK-47 rifles for self-defence, and also accused Ortom of fuelling a bad media campaign against the Fulanis and worsening the herders/farmers crisis in the country.

But Ortom, in his response, alleged that Mohammed was one of those he described as Fulani terrorists terrorising innocent Nigerians.

Ortom also raised the alarm that his life was being threatened by the claim of the Bauchi Governor.

Addressing journalists after meeting with the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Director of Organisation, Prof. Al-Mustapha Medanerom, Thursday at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, El-Rufai said the two northern governors would be reconciled.

El-Rufai stated: “I just left Kaduna, we had a meeting of the Northern State Governors, Bauchi State Governor, Benue Governor were there, it will be sorted out. It could be differences in options. It is not fundamental. We are all committed to solving the problem of movement up and down by the herders because once we solve that problem, the clashes between farmers and herders will reduce significantly.

“It will be sorted out, there will always be differences in opinion but not fundamental. The Northern State Governors Forum is committed to ending the nomadic movement of cattle and people in the shortest possible time and we are all working towards it.”