Following the killing of 13 farmers at a mining site at Angwan Maigiro in Allawa district of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Jonathan Vatsa has alleged that the incessant killings across the state goes beyond mere banditry activities, adding that “it is an ethnic cleansing.”

The former spokesman of the APC in Niger State specifically singled out the continuous killings 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.

According to Vatsa, “It is a calculated attempt by the “New sheriff in town (Bandits)” to chase the people from their agricultural and mineral rich lands.”

The former Commissioner for Information Culture and Tourism while condemning the killings on Sunday in Minna told selected Journalists that “The time to take the necessary action to end these heartless killings of innocent farmers is now.”

According to him, “From all indications, it is now cleared that there is economic war going on where these killings are concentrated. They want to finish the natives and take over their lands.

“The land is rich in minerals and agriculture and that is why I want to call on the Federal Government to immediately rise up to the occasion and rescue these people.

“This situation is beyond what the state government can handle because apart from the resources to tackle it, the state governor does not 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 are 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,” he added.

Furthermore, he said “as long as the killings and molestation of these farmers continue, there will be no end to food scarcity, especially in the state.

“These local government areas under attacks, account for more than 60 percent of food production in the state. The entire areas 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,” he said.

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Vatsa warned that the growing insecurity across the country where farmers are the number one target can derail the agricultural programme and food security agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and of course Farmer Governor Umar Muhammad Bago.

Accordingly, Vatsa pointed out that “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,” he concluded. (New Telegraph)

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