Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State has blamed the political and traditional elite of causing the frequent clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Kaduna, by capitalising on the religious and ethnic differences of the state to incite the people against one another.
Kaduna State has witnessed several bloody clashes that have claimed many lives and properties worth billions of Naira. Only last month, over 100 people were killed by suspected Fulani gunmen in Kaura Local Government area of the state.
Despite the peace the two groups had hitherto enjoyed, several factors have combined to pitch them against each other, leading to attacks and counter-attacks that had claimed lives on both sides.
According to Governor Yero, the problems between the two tribes were issues that could be handled through dialogue and not fighting, and therefore appealed to both groups not to allow such selfish elements to disrupt their peaceful co-existence.
The Governor said this on Monday when the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations and Chairman Security and Peace Committee on Fulani-Farmers crisis, Michael Zuokumor, visited him in his office. He said that the ruling class who incite the masses for these religious conflicts hardly partake in the actual hostilities while the ignorant masses have been usually utilised under religious banner to destroy, kill and maim against one another.
Speaking earlier, the DIG told the Governor that the committee which was set up by the Inspector-General of Police to wade into the incessant clashes between farmers in some states in the North, was in Kaduna to interact with all the various stakeholders towards ensuring that peace returns to the troubled areas, warning that the Federal Government would not hesitate to deal with anybody or group who try to truncate the peace process.
The committee later met behind closed doors with representatives of Fulanis and the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union where they deliberated on the remote and immediate causes as well as the remedies to the clashes.
Although most of the deliberations were conducted behind closed doors, the DIG told journalists at the end of the meeting that all the warring parties have agreed to bury their differences and live together in peace again.
