A Youth group under the aegis of the Northern Youths Assembly of Nigeria (NYAN) in Plateau State, have raised the alarm that the relative peace being enjoyed in the State may be truncated, if authorities failed to check the activities of Fulani herdsmen in some parts of the State.
The youths in a statement signed by Deputy Speaker, North Central, Audu Yibeikas, made available to journalists, the youths said that such activities, included cases of cattle grazing in a farmer’s dry season farm (Lambu), cattle grazing in the reserved grave sites of the ancestors of the community, forceful intimidation of farmers with violence and death; taking over of native settlements by herdsmen who have now built houses on native bush farms without regard for those who were displaced from the areas; illegal mining activities without respect for the traditional institution in place and also intimidation of native miners.
It reads, “For sometime now there have been persistent activities of herdsmen in Jol of Riyom and Sho in Barkin Ladi local government areas, respectively.
These, according to the youths, have led to pockets of provocations and disagreements between herdsmen and farmers in the areas.
It would be recalled that hitherto, Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Governments have been theatres of the internecine conflict between the itinerant Fulani herdsmen and their Berom for about a decade, leading to the death of scores of people and destruction of property worth millions of naira.
While accusing both the state and federal governments of negligence, Yibeikas said, “the relative peace being enjoyed between farmers and herdsmen across the entire North Central is more like a time bomb.”
The statement added that the challenges in some IDP camps (resulting from herdsmen versus farmers violence), within the North Central are deplorable.
The membership of the aforementioned group is made up of youths from the nineteen Northern States of the country, and has a followership running into millions of young people, the statement stressed.