The Nigeria Police has accused ‘mischievous politicians’ of frustrating its efforts in tackling the herdsmen and farmers’ crisis in the country.
Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Jimoh Moshood, made the allegation on Thursday during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Giving a brief on police operations in Benue and other states where some residents were recently killed by suspected herdsmen, Moshood said, “Utterances from both sides of the divides, and from mischievous politicians are worsening situation which we are trying to clear.”
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He, however, noted that the police have sent a stern warning to erring individuals that they would not hesitate to prosecute anyone found culpable for creating any public disorder.
“When mischievous politicians decide to create some mess around, the responsibility of the police is to clear these mess and ensure that those who are involved are prosecuted.
“And that is why the Force has sounded a warning; ‘your utterances shouldn’t be one that can incite people to further disturbances” the police spokesman added.
His briefing comes one day after Governor Samuel Ortom confirmed renewed attacks by suspected herdsmen on communities in Logo, Guma, and Okpokwu Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue State.
According to the governor, two women were reported killed in Guma and two persons in Logo on Tuesday, while the others were reported killed in Odidi and Ojokpailo in Okpokwu LGA on Wednesday.
The police, on their part, confirmed the death of only two persons in Guma LGA, although the cause is yet to be ascertained.
Moshood said: “It’s not five like they said, two corpses of two women were found in Guma yesterday (Wednesday) by the police.
“Some exhibits were recovered at the scene and we are still going to look at what is the cause of this latest attack in that village.”
He said measures have been put in place to contain the incident from spreading into other communities.
The police spokesman further stressed that the Force is committed to carrying out its responsibilities without bias as there was also a reported attack on some herdsmen settlements.
He said, “The police have prevented the so-called crisis from spreading beyond Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue state, and there is equally an incident where the Fulani settlements were equally attacked in another area which is close towards Enugu.”
