Taraba rejects FG’s cattle colony proposal, Fayose convenes  peace meeting over herders/farmers’ clash ‎

The governor spoke during a peace meeting with Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of  the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, farmers, local hunters, security agencies and representatives of the Tiv community in the state.

Fayose  also said  recent measures put in place  by his administration  were to prevent violence  between farmers and herds men.

There  had been tension between the herdsmen and farmers of Benue extraction in the state  over allegation of farm destruction and killings.

A  herdsman, Babuga Dengi, was on Monday  killed in a bush  between Irele and Oke Ako in Ikole Local Government Area of the state.

But Fayose, who warned the herdsmen and farmers against turning Ekiti to a war zone,  ordered security agents to  fish out the killer of the victim.

“I can’t accept anybody to be killed. If anybody killed anyone,  I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice. I’m sad about the killing in Benue but we don’t want brutality in Ekiti.

“I won’t accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I, therefore, plead with everybody to cooperate with us.

“I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody.

“ Cow matter can’t cause problems  between us. Oke Ako-Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out

“When you are entering Ekiti, drop wherever you are coming from at the boundary. You can’t kill Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo or Tiv here.

“  From the information so far, the deceased died as a result of  a clash between Fulani herders and some Tiv people, but at that,  we can’t condone lawlessness. We don’t want that type of Benue issue here, ” he said.

A communique read by Fayose at the end of the meeting ordered an expanded  forum of  leaders of  herdsmen, farmers, hunters, council chairmen and traditional rulers from Oke Ako and Irele.

The meeting,  while noting that the crisis  in Oke Ako was between Tivs and Fulani, resolved that the people must live in peace.

The meeting also ordered security agencies to fish out the killers of the herdsman in the area.

“We ask security agencies to do more in intelligence gathering, information and prevention, while we thank them for what they have done so far,” the communique added.