Tribune / Nigeria: Respite seems on the way as Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has dispatched a seven-man investigative team to look into the criminal activities of armed herdsmen in parts of Delta State.
This is sequel to a petition by the member representing Ethiope East in the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr Evance Ivwurie to President Muhammad Buhari and his counterpart in the United States, Donald Trump.
In the petition, the lawmaker had called for an urgent action to stop the incessant attacks by armed herdsmen in his area against farmers before it snowballs into a major catastrophe.
The team, led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, arrived at the weekend in Abraka where they paid a visit to the Ovie of Oruarivie-Abraka kingdom, HRM Akpomeyoma Majoroh Ojeta II to hint him of the visit.
Ivwurie added that the Federal Government was doing everything possible to halt the activities of herdsmen in every part of the country.
Meanwhile, the investigative team after its visit to the monarch, went in company of Mr Ivwurie, the Abraka Divisional Police Officer, a team of policemen from the division and members of the Abraka vigilance group to pay a visit to some flashpoints where the marauding herdsmen had perpetrated heinous crimes.
The areas included parts of Ovre-Eku, Ovre-Igun and Ovre-Abraka in Ethiope East Local Government Area.
The lawmaker, in a chat with journalists, disclosed that the visit was at the instance of the SOS he sent to the presidency.
“The visit by the team is as a result of my letter dated April 24, 2017 to the acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on the need to urgently constitute an investigative panel or commission of inquiries to investigate the killings in the area.
“Upon receipt of my letter, the acting president directed the Inspector General of Police to carry out a discreet investigation on the killings and other forms of criminality in the area by these suspected armed Fulani herdsmen.
“I also appealed to him that the perpetrators should be unravelled with those behind the act brought to book, as well as finding a lasting solution to forestall a reoccurrence of these killings in the area,” he pleaded.
It will be recalled that in the past few months, scores of residents of the area, including farmers, had been raped and murdered in cold blood by the suspected armed herdsmen who were also alleged to have been aerially reinforced with arms and ammunition by an unknown aircraft some time ago.
