Politicians, Governors, Elderstatemen Fueling Herdsmen Crisis To Discredit Buhari – Ex Senate President Claims

A former Senate president of the third Republic, Ameh Ebute, has
alleged that some respected politicians, serving governors and elder statesmen are hiding under the herdsmen/farmers crisis in some state to discredit the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ebute while presenting a paper at a one-day international conference on Good Governance and Accountability in Government gave an assessment of the president's second term thus far.

At the conference which was organised by the Coalition for Civil Society Organizations for Change and Good Governance on Tuesday, September 17, in Abuja, Ebute presented a paper titled “Appraising 100 Days of President Buhari on the saddle and building a nation where justice shall reign”.

The former president of the Senate said well-known politicians have out of desperation for power either taken to sponsoring violence or simply turned blind eyes to clashes around them for their selfish gains.

Ebute said: "A good example suffices in Taraba state where a former minister of defence is silent over the killings in Taraba state because those being killed are not from his ethnicity."

He said that the politicians have surprisingly remained mute despite the farmers/herders in their states especially Taraba because those affected are not from their ethnicity.



"It is most worrisome that in a state like Taraba, the government would choose to play petty and feign ignorance to the monster they created. I am particularly pained that a personality such as Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma would condescend so low as meddling in petty politics despite what he has benefitted from Nigeria," Ebute alleged.

He also fingered the opposition party in the fuelling the wave of violence, going as far as allegedly sponsoring the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) of keeping to their vow to make the country ungovernable for the president.

"This is also on the heels that some CSOs have been able to expose the fact that a high ranking member of the opposition is behind the wave of violent protests by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) with huge sums of monies," Ebute said.

He further stating that civil society organizations are often assumed to be institutions that facilitate communication between citizens and policymakers, Ebute said the CSOs can only be as effective as the space allowed by the government, the resources available from funders, and their internal capacity.