Fulani Herdsmen: Police arrest 10 men destroying farmlands in Benue

The men were caught destroying farmlands at Tse-Tigir and Tse-Ndugh villages on Monday, February 26, 2018.

Officers of the Sector 1 Sub-Sector A Troop deployed at Yelwata, have arrested 10 suspected herdsmen while on routine patrol.

According to the reports, the men were caught destroying farmlands at Tse-Tigir and Tse-Ndugh villages on Monday, February 26, 2018.

ALSO READ: Fulani herdsmen burn woman to death 4 days after giving birth (Graphic Photo)

 

Instablog reports that 5 motorcycles, 2 machetes, some assorted charms and the sum of N 120,000, were recovered from the suspects.

The suspects and the recovered items have been handed over to the Nigerian Police for necessary action.

The scourge that is Fulani Herdsmen

In the Northern parts of the country, back in the 80s and 90s, the Fulani herdsmen were seen as those docile, meek and mild stick wielding shepherds who went about tending their cattle without looking for anyone's trouble or fomenting any themselves.

But nowadays, any mention of a Fulani herdsman is about illicit fear, terror, and fright. They are now licensed killers who go about wrecking havoc, destruction, and devastation everywhere they go.

 

Long gone are the sticks and machetes they used in chasing away dangerous animals coming for their cattle. They are now replaced with AK-47 guns, assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades which they use to sack whole communities, kill and rape women with reckless abandon.

They are no longer the mind-your-business-I -mind-my-business guy who goes about with his flute to entertain himself while his wife milks the cows to take to town to sell Fura da nono.

No one can say exactly when the easy going Fulani herdsman became a killer and bloodthirsty war monger but the transition has taken many by surprise.

 

From Plateau State to Adamawa, from Benue to Kogi, Kaduna to Bauchi, Delta to Edo, Enugu to Anambra, we wake up every day to hear how Fulani herdsmen wrecked one havoc or the other, killing indigenes with reckless abandon, as if they have a license to kill and maim members of their host communities.

The menace of the Fulani herdsmen has gone for too long without a check from security forces and the government seems not able or willing to check it and nip it in the bud.

In the last two years, they have become more daring with the attacks becoming more fierce and well-coordinated that it seems they have some backing from the security agencies.

It is now a common sight to hear how they stormed a community, attack the people, kill at random, burn down houses and sack the indigenes with none of them being apprehended despite the fact that they keep occurring at an alarming frequency.

 

ALSO READ: Fulani herdsmen kill 3 in renewed Benue attack (Graphic Photos)

Though security agencies and the government has come out to say most of the atrocities carried out are not necessarily done by the herdsmen as most of the attackers are foreigners who sneak into the country, the bottom line still lies in the fact that nothing is being done to put them in check.

In some instances, some of the actions of government make people wonder if they are really ready to take the fight to the so-called aliens.

The state governors are doing practically nothing to provide security for their people as the rampaging herdsmen go about their killing spree, yet they collect billions as security funds every month.

The police, the military, and the security services have shown that they cannot protect the citizens of Nigeria from the marauding herdsmen and it is left for Nigerians to rise up and defend themselves.