Ruler of Irigwe ethnic nationality in Plateau State, High Royal Highness, Right Reverend Ronku Aka, has made a shocking disclosure on why attacks on his kingdom, and by extention, the Southern Kaduna situation, keeps getting worse.
Ronku who spoke when the president of the Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, Reverend Gideon Para-Malam, led other officials of the non-governmental organisation on a sympathy visit to his palace in Miango, following attacks by herdsmen which cost several lives, said his kingdom is under invasion, and security operatives are under instruction to not intervene.
He said that security operatives who were deployed to the communities during attacks, claimed they had no instruction to repel attacks by herdsmen in the region.
He said the destruction that took place in his kingdom had further exposed the helplessness of the governors and the council chairmen as chief security officers in their respective areas.
“I don’t blame the local government chairman in Bassa or the governor of the state over the calamity that has befallen my people. At peace meetings, the governor will give orders but the security men will go and do a different thing.
“When I enquired what was happening, some soldiers cried to me that they did not receive the orders to repel the attackers.
“Some of them, who expressed frustration over the situation, wondered the essence of holding guns which they cannot use and left the scene,” he said.
The Emir of Muri Empire, Taraba State, Abbas Tafida, who also decried atrocities committed by herdsmen in his kingdom, had said he won’t be relying on government to address the challenges facing his kingdom, but will instead, mobilize armed youths to besiege the forest and kiII any Fulani man in sight irrespective of his occupation.
He said, “From now onwards if anyone is kidnapped from this emirate, we will go into the bush and kiII any Fulani man we see and we will not ask for his name or what he does because the Fulanis cannot say they do not know the kidnappers, they had better stop them.
“Our young people are inactive. Police at a time caught a district head conniving with kidnappers and they gave him bail, he had the audacity to go back to his district and the youths did nothing.
“From now on, anyone caught conniving with kidnappers, we will kiII him and his family members. Police should be warned! We have respect for them but when next they arrest someone conniving with kidnappers and they let the person go free, we will also arm the youth to protect the citizens.”
