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Paul Ogbebor, a retired Colonel in the Nigerian Army, has called for the formation of a regional force by the West African Heads of State to confront the menace of herdsmen in the sub-Saharan region.
Ogbebor made the call while speaking with journalists in Benin-City in reaction to a statement credited to Theophilous Danjuma, a retired Army General, calling on Nigerians to defend themselves against herdsmen.
The ex-military officer, who noted that the herdsmen-farmers clashes is a regional problem that had also plagued countries in the West Africa region like Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Cote d’ Ivoire, among others described the Danjuma’s call as a disappointment taken too far.
Ogbebor, who advised the Nigerian government and its citizenry to put heads together and proffer solution on how to solve the problem, however advocated for a meeting of Heads of State in West African region to fashion out ways of addressing the issue.
He also called on the Federal Government to engage the service of retired military and police officers who have retired over 10 years ago to address the challenge posed by herdsmen in the country.
“Retirees from the military and police should be engaged to hold ground in their respective local governments because they know their areas well. They don’t need to be armed; their duty as a result of their training will be to give early warning signal to serving police and the military for action,” he said.
According to him, “During the civil war, we recalled soldiers who fought in the Second World War and it worked for us. We are in a state of war, we should do the same thing and engage those that have retired from the police or military to save the situation.
“Danjuma is a highly respected Army General who contributed so much to the building of this country. I am sure that was why he made the statements about herdsmen’s killing, indicting the military and also asking Nigerians to take up arms and defend themselves. I think his disappointment over what is happening in this country today, is taken too far.”
While pointing out that the internal security of the country is in the hands of the police, he added that the military had done their best to ensure that the local governments captured by Boko Haram have been taken back from them and should be praised for that.
He however, explained that resorting to self help is not the solution and that the statement if not corrected can cause anarchy in the country.
“The problem with Nigeria is corruption and it is behind the problem happening in Nigeria today. We don’t have leadership problem but system failure. All that we need to do now is to support the President,” he said.
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, BENIN
