As reactions continue to trail last week’s killing of 13 farmers by bandits at a mining site in Angwan Maigiro in Allawa district of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, former Commissioner for Information Culture and Tourism and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Jonathan Vatsa, has alleged that the unabated killings across the State goes beyond mere banditry activities, but are more of a premeditated ethnic cleansing under a guise.
He specifically singled out the continued killing of innocent farmers in communities around Shiroro, Rafi, Munya and Paikoro Local Government Areas of the State since 2015 when the banditry activities began to escalate, saying that it is a calculated attempt by the “new sheriff in town” to chase the people from their agriculture and minerals rich lands.
The former commissioner, in a statement in Minna on Sunday (today, August 25), condemned the massacre of the 13 farmers, warning that the “time to take the necessary action to end this heartless killings of innocent farmers is now.”
“From all indications, it is now clear that there is an economic war going on where these killings are concentrated. They want to finish the natives and take over their lands, rich in minerals and agriculture. That is why I want to call on the federal government to immediately rise up to the occasion and rescue these people,” Vatsa said.
“This situation is beyond what the state government can handle because apart from the resources to tackle it, the Governor doesn’t control the army or the police. The federal government can no longer keep quiet over the security situation in Niger state.
“What baffles me most in all these attacks and killings is that while the farmers are being killed and abducted for ransom, the illegal miners are having a field day, doing their business without molestation from these criminals.
“So, the question is what is the relationship between the bandits and these miners? Why are the bandits not seeing these miners, why only the farmers. There is more to this and the government must act now and fast.”
The outspoken former publicity secretary of the APC in the state pointed out that as long as the killings and molestation of these farmers continue, there will be no end to food scarcity, especially in the state, adding that “these local government areas under attacks account for more than 60 percent of food production in the state.
“The entire area can feed the whole North Central states of Nigeria because farming is their main occupation. They have very fertile lands and the place is rich in minerals but they are being killed and chased out of their ancestral lands,” Vatsa lamented, warning that the growing insecurity across the country where farmers are the number one target can derail whatever is the agricultural programme and food security agenda of the Tinubu Administration.
“If the lands and the farmers are not secured, how do we address the current high cost of food stuff in the market?
“There must be strong commitment and political will to tackle this challenge and rescue the people from the hands of these enemies of the country.”
