August 31, (THEWILL) – The Force Commander of Operations Whirl Stroke (OPWS), Major General Sunday Igbinomwanhia, has said that the use of civil-military cooperation had helped OPWS to succeed in reducing the clashes between farmers and herders in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States borders.
Gen Igbinomwanhia made the disclosure on Wednesday, during a stakeholders meeting, which had in attendance delegates from Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states, organised by the OPWS.
The Force Commander further disclosed that the security situation between farmers and herders had improved drastically, as against what was experienced in 2017, due to the concerted efforts of OPWS through the use of kinetic and non-kinetic means.
“This has greatly helped in reducing killings, as well as criminality and has restored normalcy. The mandate of the operation is to put to an end to the incessant killings of innocent citizens by armed robbers, bandits, armed herdsmen, militia groups and other criminal elements in the catchment areas.”
He assured that the military will continue to review its tactics, techniques and procedures, in order to always come up with implementable strategies to defeat adversaries.
In his presentation, the Benue state Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Aondongu Saaku, said that both crop and animal farmers needed peace, lamenting that the continued clashes between the two was threatening food security.
On her part, a member of the Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Dr Victoria Daaor, noted that dialogue was the best option to broker peace between farmers and herders.
She, therefore, commended OPWS for such a laudable initiative, stressing that it was the right way to go if peace was to be achieved.
