Seriake Dickson Said: Benue, Plateau Killing Evidence Of State Failure.
Seriake Dickson, senator representing Bayelsa west, says the recent attacks in Benue and Plateau states are clear signs of state failure. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Dickson condemned the killings and described the incidents as “dastardly and callous massacres”. “I have spoken with my brother and friend, the Governor of Benue State, H.E. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, as well as officials of the Plateau State Government, to offer my condolences on behalf of my family and the good people of my Senatorial District, and on behalf of all Nigerians of goodwill, over the dastardly and callous massacres that occurred recently in communities in those two states,” he wrote. The former governor of Bayelsa said states like Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, and southern Kaduna have been repeatedly subjected to “criminality, lawlessness, and brutality in a genocidal magnitude”. “Not only are armed gunmen terrorising and ransacking hapless communities, and committing mass murders in these states, but the level of banditry, kidnapping, and killing has affected many other states as well, almost to the point of eclipsing the Boko Haram insurgency that bedevilled the northeastern part of our country years ago,” he said. Dickson called for urgent intervention from the federal government, saying the security situation has reached a level that requires an honest national conversation. “At this point, the leadership of this country and the topmost hierarchy of the security architecture need to really sit down and have a frank and honest conversation about what to do, and do it fast,” he stated. He identified several root causes of the crisis, including farmer-herder clashes, the activities of illegal miners, displacement of indigenous populations, climate-related issues, and general criminality. “While there are elements of banditry and sheer criminality that have nothing to do with competition for resources, there is also a well-known angle that has to do with perennial clashes between herdsmen and farmers in communities across the country,” he said. He urged the federal government to implement mandatory ranching and prohibit open grazing nationwide. “This was why, at the floor while contributing to a motion on this, I urged the Senate to resolve to implementing mandatory ranching, support and orientation even for the herdsmen, followed by the prohibition of open grazing nationwide,” he added. Dickson said the newly established ministry of livestock, along with other relevant agencies, must develop a funding and support framework for livestock and agribusinesses. He also called for a coordinated security strategy involving community leaders and law enforcement to flush out bandits from rural areas. “It is not acceptable in this country or any other, for people wherever they are to be attacked, maimed, killed, and communities ransacked at will without consequences, while the rest of the country and the world move on,” Dickson said. “It is the clearest evidence of State failure and collapse.”