The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Nasarawa State chapter on
Sunday urged the Federal Government to drop the idea of cattle colonies
and deploy Military to Nasarawa and Benue border.
The state Chairman of CAN, Joseph Masin, said this during the body’s
donation of relief materials to over 8, 000 Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs) camped in the state.
Masin advised the government to adopt ranches system as it was the only way to curtail herdsmen/farmers crisis.
He made the donations comprising 10 bags of gari, 20 bags of rice and
assorted clothes to IDPs in kaderko, in Keana Local Government Area
(LGA) of the state.
The IDPs, who are mostly Tivs, were allegedly chased out from their communities bordering Benue State by suspected herdsmen.
The Chairman said they were not only there to distribute relief
materials, but to also share in the pains of the IDPs who lost some of
their loved ones during the attack.
Masin told NAN: “It is a very pathetic situation to see children,
women and the aged being forced and dislodged from their homes.
“Despite all the killings going on simultaneously in many states of
the country, our military that fought and restored peace in other
African countries were able to do little or nothing.
“Government should urgently deploy the military to the border towns
between Nasarawa and Benue in order to restore peace and return the
people to their homes,’’ he said
Mr Christopher Gbongbo, the spokesperson of the IDPs, who received
the items on behalf of the IDPs, expressed gratitude to CAN for the
gesture.
Gbongbo, however, regretted that no government official or agency had visited nor sent relief materials to the camps in Keana.