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Buhari Admits Sending Back Two South-West Governors Who Reported Herdsmen Killings In Their States

The president, who did not mention the names of the governors, noted that he sent them back to go and do their jobs.

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that he turned back two South-West governors who came to report to him in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, how rampaging herdsmen attacked farmers in their states.

Buhari in an interview on Arise Television, said he simply asked the governors to go back and sort out their own problems since they were elected government officials too.

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The president, who did not mention the names of the governors, noted that he sent them back to go and do their jobs.

When asked about his stance on regional security outfits and whether he would formalise state police in Nigeria, Buhari said, “I have seen or I have been reading it in the newspapers. Most of us who are old enough know the local police and so on. The traditional rulers were very effective in their communities. I will give you an example of recent.

“Two governors from the south-west came to tell me that the cattle rearers in some of the forests there have killed the farmers while the cattle were eating up their crops. But I told them, you campaigned to be elected and you were elected. So, I said go back and sort yourselves. This is because there has been a system as all of us could recall, even in local governments when there were security in each local government.

“It consists of the traditional rulers who have been there for years. So they knew all the crooks in their localities. Then the police, and those who come, whether they were cattle rearers and traders. They meet either monthly or quarterly. So I told those governors to go back and go to the old system so that they will have intelligence; they will know what is going on.

“They can’t just win an election and sit tight and think somebody will do their jobs for them. I just sent them back.”

Some of these comments by Buhari have been described by Nigerians on social media as “arrogant and insensitive” as Nigerians are lambasting the number one citizen for not showing seriousness and empathy with the violent attacks going on across the states.

Also, since Saturday's attack on Igangan, an agrarian community in Oyo State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, where no fewer than 15 persons were killed, the President has not made any statement about it or offered his condolences.