The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on Sunday condemned the killing of over 50 Fulani pastoralists by drone strike in Nasarawa State.
The group also called on the federal government to as a matter of urgent attention, set up an investigation team into the killing, and fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act, whoever they are, to face the law.
Media Talk Africa recalls that over 50 pastoralists went to Makurdi, in Benue state, paid a fine of N29 million Naira to retrieve 1,250 impounded cattle from the Benue Livestock Guards.
However, over 50 of them were killed while offloading their cows in Nasarawa State.
Reacting to the killing in a statement, on Sunday, in Kaduna, ACF Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu, said since it’s only the federal government that has power to deploy drone, the circumstances surrounding the killing of pastoralists left them grasping over the sad incident.
According to the statement, “Sources told the ACF that a drone strike happened while the livestock were being offloaded after the owners were forced to take back their cattle in trucks from Makurdi.”
It said the incident came barely six months after a similar incident in which hundreds of livestock were killed when a helicopter gunship belonging to the Nigerian Air force from the Makurdi Base Operation carried out the strike, killing and wounding the animals and some herders in Awe also in Nasarawa state.
It said the Federal Government manages the Nigerian air space through the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), and wondered why the killings on innocent souls, yet the federal government kept mute, adding that in a serious country, the death of one person is enough to attract the attention and intervention of the government.
The statement while commending the Nasarawa State Government for their intervention in giving medical attention and support to survivors and the victims’ families, extends its condolences to the families of the deceased and the Government of Nasarawa State, even as it called for adequate compensation to be paid to the victims’ families.
