From Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia and Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The Catholic Bishop of Umuahia Diocese, Rt Rev Lucious Iwejuru Ugorji, has said Nigeria may explode if the killings being perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen in different parts of the country is not stopped now.
He gave this warning while speaking to newsmen after the blessing of St Mark’s Catholic Church, Uburu Ihechiowa, in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State.
Ugorji, who also commissioned an ICT centre at Umuzomgbo, which was built by a knight of the Catholic Church and royal father of Atta Igbo-Ukwu Umuzomgbo in the local government area, Eze Linus Mbah, stated further that herdsmen’s attacks on innocent Nigerians are “becoming too many.
“If the Federal Government fails to do something now, a time will come when it will be too late,” the man of God warned.
He tasked the federal government to take a decisive step to avert further bloodshed in the country, stressing that as farmers, cattle pastoralists, who are also farmers, are morally bound to abide by the tenets of farming, which includes protecting another farmer’s farm and crops.
The bishop blamed the government for looking the other way as herdsmen go berserk, pointing out that their activities are becoming antithetical to the government’s mantra of increased food production.
Meanwhile, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has lauded the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okozie Ikpeazu, for rejecting to cede any part of the state for the establishment of cattle colonies for grazing of cattle by Fulani herdsmen.
The group also commended the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano for boldly and openly declaring that the state can never condone the Fulani herdsmen’s criminal activities of killing and rapping of women in the state.
A statement by the leader of MASSOB, Mr. Uchenna Madu, said “the anti peoples move by the federal government, to establish colonies for Fulani herdsmen and their cows in southern states of the federation” would fail due to the danger therein. Madu alleged that Fulani herdsmen and their kinsmen were pawned in an agenda to overrun all towns in Southern and Middle Belt parts of the country to institute emirs in places like Owerri, Enugu, Benin, Agatu, Wukari, Abeokuta and other towns where federal government had planned to create grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen.