As the menace of Fulani herdsmen continue to elicit concern across the nation, indications emerged on Thursday that the military high command in the country might come up with a joint operation involving the various security agencies to tackle the emerging security threat.
The Defence Headquarters spokesman, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, on Thursday said that the expected operation would not be restricted to a single service of the Armed Forces.
He said that the operation against the herdsmen would be similar to the ones formed to battle the insurgency in the North-East, militancy in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday gave marching orders to the top echelon of the military and the police to stop the recurrent killing of defenseless villagers by marauding Fulani militia.
The president gave the directive in the wake of the massacre of 50 people at Ukpabi Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Sunday.
Abubakar noted that the issue of the threat posed by the herdsmen would be given the deserved attention by the military just as he said the presidential directive would receive effective compliance.
“The ideas of joint operation will always be there because it is a common knowledge that it is not a one service business. It must involve all other security agencies.
“Each and every one of us has a role to play: physical security, giving information, synergising with other stakeholders. That is what we are doing in the North-East and the Niger Delta and other parts. It would involve not only the military.
“The current resurgence of this issue of herdsmen is something which must be given a priority now that there is a glaring security threats to lives and property which the Armed Forces and other security agencies cannot close their eyes to.
“All efforts are now on towards ensuring that there is security of lives and property in the general area where such activities of herdsmen are being carried out.
“Just of recent, the President has given us a directive and it is something which we must comply with and in other cases, we deploy our men through operations such as the one against cattle rustling, Operation Sharandaji, which is to ensure that no herdsmen involved in criminal activities are spared”.
