Benue tribal leaders and heads of the three main socio-cultural organizations in the state have urged the federal government to deploy the same strategy that led to the re-arrest of the leader of IPOB, Mr Nnamdi Kanu to the arrest of leaders of Miyetti Allah and Fulani herdsmen terrorist groups allegedly responsible for the wanton killings and sacking of communities in the state and country.

The IPOB leader was arrested and extradited to Nigeria last Sunday after four years in exile.

The leaders of Mzough U Tiv, MUT, Worldwide, Ochetoha K’ Idoma and Omi Ny’Igede in a statement Friday in Makurdi signed by their Chairman and President General of MUT, Chief Iorbee Ihagh commended the government but cautioned that justice should be done in the matter for the good of the country.

Part of the statement read, “as we commend the Federal Government for this feat as part of efforts to address insecurity in our great country, we wish to draw the attention of the government to another security challenge that portends great danger to food and national security – the activities of militia herdsmen and their sponsors.

“We wish to place on record that in Benue State in particular and Nigeria in general, militia herdsmen under the guise of grazing their cattle, have visited mayhem on farmers leading to killings and displacement of thousands from their ancestral homes with farmlands no longer accessible.

“Hundreds have been orphaned and wives widowed. Peasant farmers who had hitherto, contributed to making Benue Food Basket of the Nation can no longer go to their farms for fear of being killed. The hunger in the land is unimaginable.

“We are deeply concerned and worried that the federal government has refused to look inwards by arresting leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other violent Fulani groups who openly threaten and carry out attacks on communities in Benue and other states of this country without any form of resistance.

“If the same energy expended in arresting Nnamdi Kanu can’t be applied to arrest ‘terrorists’ who are freely walking on the streets of Abuja and other cities of Nigeria, then it is questionable.

“It is public knowledge that the President Muhammadu Buhari in a recent address, alluded to the fact that foreign herdsmen are living inside forests across Nigeria and are responsible for the banditry and other terrorist activities in the country.

“Incidentally, these people have known links that speak out when some of the attacks are carried out. Unfortunately, they have never been invited for questioning by security agencies. What a fight against insecurity.

“We wish to state unequivocally that in Benue State, militia herdsmen are 95 percent behind insecurity and hunger. They threaten, attack and claim responsibility for the killings. We wonder why the Federal Government turns a deaf ear to such insolence. What a selective justice.

“It is our firm belief that in Benue State anytime the Federal Government decides that our people should go back to their farms to continue with their farming activities, decisive steps will be taken.

“Chief of which is the arrest of the masterminds of attacks on our people and to ask herdsmen to stay away from our state or better still, embrace ranching as the global best practice of animals husbandry.”