A former presidential candidate, Prof Kingsley Moghalu, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari of grave consequences should his administration fails to stop heinous crimes by killer herdsmen.
In a statement he signed, Moghalu warned if killer herdsmen are not eliminated, it may lead to wild spread ethnic conflicts across the nation.
The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recalled his experience with such situations, including the Rwandan genocide and in other countries as a senior United Nation official in the 1990s.
“The failure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to end the menace of criminal herdsmen and bandits throughout Nigeria has led to the stigmatisation of the Fulani and other ethnic groups for the crimes of a few,” Moghalu said.
According to him, the failure of authorities to deploy effective security and law enforcement action against these criminals has created a dangerous vacuum increasingly filled, unsurprisingly, by self-defense measures by several communities across the country.
“This could lead to reprisals based on ethnic profiling. In this context, I deplore the recent killings of innocent Nigerians of Northern extraction in Oyo State,” he warned said.
Moghalu, who pointed out he had played a role internationally to rebuild several failed states after destructive internal conflicts, called on Buhari to act decisively before it becomes too late.
He lamented Nigeria has lost monopoly of the use of force since killer herdsmen, bandits and other terrorists can free attack defenseless Nigerians without being brought to book
The former diplomat warned no one should be above the laws, wondering why the authorities will appear impotent in cases involving killer-herdsmen and bandits but act decisively to squash peaceful protests by citizens.