By Eluwa Tochukwu-Delta
A member of the recently inaugurated Delta State Community Policing Committee,Prince Kehinde Taiga has accused community chiefs and traditional rulers of collecting money from Fulani herdsmen and giving them land for their cows to graze. His view also collaborates with that of state commissioner of police, Inuwa Hafix, who also accused traditional monarchs in the state of similar act.
Taiga, who is also the National Vice President of Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) in Nigeria said it is the community chiefs that give land to the Fulani herdsmen, they collect money from them and let out lands to graze their cows. He is insisting that the fault lies squarely in the hands of the community chiefs who must purge themselves of the underground deal for the safety of Delta people.
“The activity of Fulani herdsmen in Delta is worrisome. I want to say that it is community chiefs that give land to Fulani herdsmen. Our kings collect big money from them and give them land. When you let out your land for them to graze his cow, you no longer have legal power over that land. Our kings are 79 percent contributors to the menace of the Fulani herdsmen in Delta state. They have sold out their rights to the herdsmen.
“Our chiefs, kings and community leaders are contributors to the stronghold of Fulani herdsmen in Delta state. Until they desist from given them land because of money, until they desist from selling out their birth right, the Fulani herdsmen cannot leave the land. By their action, they have made them legal occupants of the land and there is no way you can drive them out.”
On what should be done, he said all the kings and chiefs should be summoned, all community leaders should be summoned for a meeting to discuss the way out. If they stop giving land to the herdsmen to graze their cows, there will be significant reduction in the menace of Fulani herdsmen in Delta state.
He said the community policing committee which was inaugurated by Governor Okowa on Friday is to assist the security agents in the fight against crime and criminality, noting that part of the job of the community policing committee is to advice all security agents in the discharge of their duties within the ambits of the law. It is also to proffer necessary solutions to security challenges in the state.
