Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, a former Presidential candidate under the defunct National Republican Convention NRC has stated that a reprisal attack on Southerners by herders could lead to an uncontrollable situation.
Tofa was speaking against the backdrop of the eviction order given to herders in the Southern part of the country to vacate their grazing areas.
In a statement he made available to journalists in Kano on Tuesday, the former NRC presidential aspirant said there was clearly a nefarious plan by the enemies of the country to initiate a violent crisis that may lead to its destruction. He said the killings and maiming of people of Northern extraction especially, the Fulani, in some parts of the country was totally unacceptable.
“Tension is beginning to brew, and if revenge attacks on Southerners begin here in the North, it will be difficult to control. “Our enemies from within and outside, some well known by our Security Agencies, are more determined than ever to set us against each other, so that we may get to a point of no return when the conflagration begun.
‘There is no part of this country that is at peace. Local and neighbouring, including foreign terrorist, are busy, fully armed, to cause whatever damage they can inflict on our dear country. “I, therefore, call on the President to take this insecurity and the tribal lynching happening very seriously and put up urgent measures to deal with them without any more delays. “I am sure, there is concern at the Presidency and discussions are being held. But, urgent and decisive action is now necessary. “If any Nigerian will not be allowed to live freely and conduct their lives and businesses in any part of the country without being disturbed or molested or even killed, then no one should be allowed to settle and prosper anywhere else,” the statement read in part.
He called on law enforcement agents to act accordingly and decisively, and by all means bring the ugly trend under control.
