The Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationalities in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) has taken a swipe at the Niger Delta Governors for not working to protect its citizens against the invasion of the region by herdsmen.

The group said it is worried and disturbed by the increasing spate of killings, kidnappings, banditry, farmers/herders clashes and other criminal atrocities committed by suspected Fulani herdsmen currently threatening the corporate survival of Nigeria.

MOSIEND said it is particularly worried about the daily influx of the Fulani herdsmen into the Niger Delta region in the guise of grazing but hide to perpetrate crime and criminality, warning that the refusal of the governors to speak against the threats of the herders is akin to the region sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

The National Vice President of MOSIEND, Comrade Thompson Fuoye, who berated the governors in chat with newsmen in Yenagoa, said he expected the Niger Delta Governors to have made a categorical statement alerting that the region would not accept a scenario where herders will want to commit atrocities without restraint.

Fuoye noted that a situation where “our forest has been taken over by the killer-herdsmen is unacceptable as it portends great danger if nothing is done to checkmate the activities of the herdsmen,” insisting that the people should be prepared for the impending danger lurking around.

He commended the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, for the courage in issuing a vacation notice to criminal herdsmen operating in the state, maintaining that he expected the same from the Niger Delta Governors stating their stand on the menace of the killer-herdsmen that the region would not be a safe haven for their criminal atrocities.

The MOSIEND vice president further stated: “The issue of Fulani-herdsmen killing, maiming, kidnapping and committing banditry is very serious that the N/Delta Governors must be concerned about.

“These Fulanis that are here in our state capital are even more than those in the forest. All around us, we have these Fulani-herdsmen. It means if there is an uproar, these guys will just cordon us off and it be very brutal.

“So it is a very serious matter that the Niger Delta governors have not looked at it.

“I am very grateful that the Benue State Governor made a very emphatic statement just recently, those are the kind of statement we want to hear from our governors and even what the Ondo State Governor, Akeredolu said is wonderful.

“At least it is a clear message that they will not take it even though they sat down and discussed, it is a clear message that they would not take it.

“So, such statement must be made by the governors of Edo, Rivers and Delta even Bayelsa. They have not done anything by making sure that these people understand that we will not tolerate nonsense around our territory.

“Like I have always said and clearly, every Nigerian has the right to stay, do business and live wherever he wants. But you must come with your hands clean which means you must be willing to live a life that is under the law.

“Since we have seen that the Federal Government does not want take proper action, Iexpect that we as a people would defend ourselves which means we must have to go back to what I said some five, 10 years ago which has to be operation ‘know your neighbour’.

“Everybody must know their neighbors. If your next door neighbor is a Fulaniman and you don’t see him and he comes in three, two weeks don’t even report to the police but report to your community leaders because the police will not do anything.

“As far as I am concerned the governors of the Niger Delta have not done anything, they are more interested in who becomes who in 2023.

“That is what they are lobbying for now, how to become Vice President and President.

“Those are the nonsense they are running after but forgetting that we have a problem that is going to consume like Cancer that will gradually eat us up one day. But we in MOSIEND are going to protect our own the best way we can.”

On the statement made by some Fulani fanatics to the fact that Nigeria is their land, their property and will want to take possession of it, the MOSIEND National Vice President described the statement as arrant senseless.

He noted that such statements are capable to pitching one region against the other and warned that the Niger Delta people have never been conquered before and would not sit by and allow someone infringe on their rights to intimidate them.

“If the aim of those who made that statement is to threaten, maim, kidnap and kill people in order to take possession of the land, then we the Ijaws will not take it.

“The direction of the action of these Fulani herdsmen is pointing to fact they are up to something untoward, probably “ethnic cleansing.

“Don’t forget that from the information we gathered those herdsmen engaging in kidnapping are popping up arms for themselves with the money paid as ransom.

“They kidnap and when a ransom is paid it is used in exchange for arms,” he said

The youth activist urged the Nigerian youths to take advantage of the awareness created by the #ENDSARS protest to muster support from like minds in order to wrest power from the aged leaders, adding that there are vibrant and capable youths who can take Nigeria out of the woods to the Promised Land.

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