It is no more news that violence between Nigerian herders and farmers has escalated, killing scores of people since January 2018. The conflict has evolved from spontaneous reactions to provocations and now to deadlier planned attacks, particularly in some Southern parts of the Nation.
This decade-long conflict has been aggravated through three major factors: religious, tribal and sadly poor governance. The poor response of some Governments to distress calls and failure to punish past perpetrators; coupled with reluctance to enact new laws banning open grazing in some states have also been found responsible for this.For those who are close to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, they would know he is one of the few Governors in Nigeria who have openly tolerated other religions, communities in his State without disdain. In fact, Muslim community in the state have enjoyed inhibited religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence with Christians in Rivers State all along.
The Governor’s administration has continued to promote religious tolerance amongst all residents of the state. He is an advocate of accountability and supports livestock sector reform.Though the farmer-herder conflict is not rampant in Rivers state or other south-south states, Governor Wike is one of the Governors who has shown solidarity for his brother Governors from the south-west. An active player in the Southern Governors Forum, Governor Wike’s voice is loudly heard and he pushes for laws that will promote peaceful co-existence in the nation. He is also battling some sort of ‘violence’, peculiar to the Niger-delta region.The intolerable herders-farmers’ conflict has become Nigeria’s gravest security challenge, now claiming far more lives than the Boko Haram insurgency.
This security challenge has displaced hundreds of thousands and sharpened ethnic, regional and religious polarisation. It threatens to become even deadlier and could affect forthcoming elections and undermine national stability.Governor Wike is one of the staunch believers in the gradual rolling out of open grazing bans in phases. In his state, communal leaders have curbed inflammatory rhetoric and encouraged compromise amongst all persons and religions. Peculiar to Rivers State is youthful exuberances from other Niger Delta states who come to Port Harcourt, the state capital, to cause trouble in the guise of agitation.Chief Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor, articulately warned that such attitude must stop, sounding a note of caution: “Nobody should take our tolerance for granted.”
The two term Governor, however, has continued in his anti -cultism and anti-kidnapping war. He has promised to keep doing this until all criminals are rooted out of the state. His administration keeps demolishing hideouts of suspected cultists and kidnappers within suburbs of Port Harcourt, which usually is followed by aggressive prosecution schemes for suspected cultists and kidnappers. He is known as a go-getter whose administration cannot be slowed down through criminal activities.Governor Wike once said: “We have zero tolerance for crime and criminality. We are determined to make this state safer for residents and investors.“Therefore, the government will always take action on credible intelligence gathered by security agencies. We will root on the spots where criminals use as hideouts across the state.”The governor has maintained this tempo, as his administration has reclaimed expanse of land from cultists and kidnappers in different locations in the state. Residents across the state have immensely supported the state government and security agencies to maintain the tempo of the war on crime and criminality. This is possible because Wike’s administration notes credible information on the hideouts of suspected cultists and kidnappers and acts on it.
Beyond these, Governor Nyesom Wike has played a fatherly role in Rivers and the Niger-delta, by embracing all in his State and seeking for the overall growth of Rivers State and the Niger-Delta region.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial board of TheScript Newspaper
