, Femi Falana, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently restore security in Plateau and Benue states, which have witnessed persistent attacks and killings by armed groups.){kind=link}
Renowned human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently restore security in Plateau and Benue states, which have witnessed persistent attacks and killings by armed groups.
Falana, in a statement released on Wednesday, expressed deep worry over the repeated loss of lives in both states, attributing the crisis to the government’s failure to fully enforce the nationwide ban on open grazing.
He recalled that governors in the North had prohibited open grazing as far back as February 2021, followed by their counterparts in the South in May of the same year.
In 2022, the federal government adopted ranching as an official policy, yet implementation remains weak.
He said the continued disregard for these policies has allowed violence between herders and farmers to persist, leading to the deaths of many innocent Nigerians.
Falana urged President Tinubu to take immediate steps by instructing the 3rd Division of the Nigerian Army and the Assistant Inspector General of Police in Zone 4, both stationed in Jos, to intervene and help restore calm in the troubled areas.
He stressed that any further delay could cost more lives, adding that the government must act swiftly to stop the ongoing violence and prevent more communities from being displaced.