Joseph Ameh, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Kogi State, has urged the Federal Government to stop the killings in the North Central part of the country to save the nation from imminent food scarcity.
Ameh, who spoke to newsmen in Lagos, maintained that the killings and destruction of farmlands by the herdsmen had put the people’s lives in danger, thereby disrupting farming activities in the Middle Belt known as the nation’s food basket.
He said: “Recent events suggest that food security in the region is threatened by the activities of the deadly herdsmen. The lives of the Middle Beltans are being made to look cheaper than the lives of cows.”
He maintained that the people of the zone had been critical players in the Nigerian project, as the area had been churning out prominent national leaders since the colonial period, and wondered why the Federal Government should allow the people and their farmlands to be destroyed by the herdsmen.
The PDP chieftain called on the people of the zone to eschew their ethnic differences and speak in one voice against the on-going killings, if they would not allow themselves to be exterminated by the herdsmen.
He lamented that the people of the zone, who were in the past speaking with one voice, had relapsed into their shells in their respective states, stressing that state creation brought disunity in the zone.
Ameh added: “The solution to the security challenges of the region does not lie in individualistic approach, but on the people of the region continuing to speak one voice.
“The Middle Belt region was on the path of development on the same speed with the rest of the country, but the recent spate of bloodletting has become a cog in the wheel of development, as the region has become a battle field. No nation can achieve development through war.
“If there is a time the people of Middle Belt needed to speak with one voice, it is now. We need to discard petty ethnic considerations to promote the general good of the entire region, as the general good of the Middle Belt will result in our individual well being.”
