The peace committee set up by farmers and herdsmen operating in the Aku axis of Igbo-Etiti LGA recently visited the Chairman of the Council, Hon. Malachy Agbo, to acquaint him with their activities.
According to them, the visit became imperative as they needed to assure the Chairman on behalf of their members of a sustained peaceful coexistence of the two groups in the area.
They said this became necessary considering the fractious relationships between the two groups in many other parts of the country that have led to serious loss of lives and destruction of properties. This they were determined to prevent by being proactive in the pursuit of peaceful and productive coexistence through the platform of the committee.
Agbo while welcoming them thanked the members for their coming together to foster peace.
He enjoyed them to do all within their power to make the initiative sustainable as it was only under a peaceful atmosphere that they could all thrive in their economic activities.
He said “We cannot thank you enough for this. Whoever is for peace should be commended. You are for the people, because the society cannot function when peace is elusive. Both of you make important contributions to us. And it is good to observe that while none is more important than the other, you must carry out your activities in such a way that recognizes and respects the rights of the other person. Cattle herders farmers clashes have remained a vexed issue today and while ranching may be an easy way out, until everyone is ready with that, you must continue to manage yourselves well. That’s why we laud and support your initiative.”
Apart from the leaders of the two groups, some representatives of an NGO, Society for the Rights of Excluded and Disadvantaged, who actually midwifed the initiative, were also present.
Mr. Chibundu Muozoba, who was the project coordinator for the NGO, explained that since his group did a conflict mapping of the area and understood the need to bring them together hence the Committee, the incidence of crop destruction and reprisal attacks on the herdsmen have reduced.
He said “We made them to come together to know themselves. Each explained the issues it had with the other. As these were identified, resolutions were taken on how to manage them. And so there has been peace. We monitor the process very closely and so far it has been good.”
On his part, the leader of the farmers in the committee, Mr. Ugbor Cletus restated the commitment of his members to sustaining the achieved peace.
He said since they started meeting under the auspices of the committee, they never failed to attend its monthly meetings.
He said there was no better way to handle the situation as they were continuously interfacing and thus had the opportunity for dialogue before anything got out of hand.
The leader of the herdsmen, Alhaji Bello Usman, said that not only were he and his people committed to peace, they have long taken serious measures to ensure crop destruction by cattle were stopped.
He also said he had to ask the committee to hold him personally responsible for such damages in the future as he would always vet and monitor the activities of every herdsman there.
He said that while their target was zero damage, they would however not hesitate to pay compensations as worked out and agreed upon by the committee.
