Do more to end attacks by criminal herdsmen, Soyinka tells FG

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has called on the Federal Government to do more to end attacks and killings by criminal herdsmen in parts of the country.

Soyinka made the call in a statement in Lagos on Sunday.

He said recurring cases of criminal herdsmen unleashing terror on communities leaving in their trail tears and blood required lasting interventions.

Soyinka acknowleged that a few armed herdsmen had been apprehended by security agencies but said that was not enough to put a stop to the mayhem by the criminals.

He said there were so many of the criminals hiding in the forests which needed to be tracked down by security agencies.

The Nobel Laureate expressed regrets that some communities had been sacked by the criminals, causing residents to flee.

He said there was the need to order the invaders out or drive them away and provide security for safe return of residents.

Soyinka calked for justice and restitution for victims of herdsmen attacks, saying that would give them some succour.

“We must go beyond arresting a token of herdsmen caught with arms—there are still hundreds of them in the forests.

“It is not enough to back the anti-open grazing law, so late in the day, but we shall leave that for later.

“Right now, the violated and the dispossessed and with no future delay or subterfuge.

“All available forces should be deployed to right the hideous, unprecedented wrong that has left the nation drowning in blood -we simply cannot continue one day longer to watch this forceful feeding of human blood “,he said.

He also called on the agencies to track down and identify the sponsors of the criminals in order to curb their activities.

Soyinka wished “those who laboured for humanity ” a Happy May Day ,expressing the optimism that the solutions to the security challenge would come in no distant time.