Group tackles Amnesty International over report on farmers-herders conflict

The Amnesty International has continued to receive knocks over its report: tagged “Harvest of Death Three Years of Bloody Clashes between Farmers and Herders in Nigeria”.

The London-based organisation which focuses on human rights was criticised even by the federal government.

In a statement issued on his behalf by Garba Shehu, his spokesman, President Muhammadu Buhari said, “it is geared towards damaging the morale of the Nigerian military.”

The Middlebelt Conscience Guard, a socio-political group, described the organisation’s report as “an agglomeration of series of events that have been reported, discussed, analyzed and acted upon by Nigerians and their leaders.”

Onoja Ugwu, chairman, board of trustees of the group, said this on Tuesday.

“The Nigerian Military made progress in dealing with the Boko Haram problem the moment the farmers/herders’ crisis was brought under control; since they do not have to contend with multiple deployments they are able to concentrate resources in countering the terrorists,” he said.

“Should this international NGO succeed in provoking fresh attacks with its report, the military will again be deployed to the affected hot spots, only that this time around the reprisals will be simultaneous across the country.

“This would stretch the military thin and give room for all security challenges in the country to fester.

“The report mischievously accuse the government and the military of not doing enough to protect people from being attacked and killed. It went on to add the fiction that response time is often slow and could take days.  This scenario is as confusing as it is harebrained. One minute it is the military is not doing anything, the next minute it is that the military has used excessive force.”