By Providence Obuh

GOVERNOR Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State, yesterday, urged the Police Committee on Peace, Security and Reconciliation of Farmers and  Herdsmen to be wary of relying on the elite in the affected states to achieve its objective.

Yero said rather than hold reconciliation meetings with elite who are the ones stoking the crises for selfish aims, the committee should hold their meetings with the rural people affected in the various communities to enable it get to the roots of the problem.

The governor spoke when the committee headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Michael Zokumo, paid him a courtesy call yesterday at Government House in Kaduna, said it was only through active interaction with those directly affected that the panel would identify the true causes and proffer solutions to the crises.

He said, “The meeting should have been held in Kaura and other affected communities in order to involve people at the grass-roots, so that you can sit down with the natives and Fulani to resolve the matter. You should  actively engage the natives while carrying out your assignment. The crisis is not about religion or ethnicity. It is being engineered by some people using religion just for their selfish interests.”

Governor Yero thanked the IGP for setting up the committee saying that dialogue remained the only panacea to the present predicament of the country, stressing that the state government was at present collaborating with traditional institutions in its effort at improving surveillance within communities, especially as it involved monitoring the movements and mission of strangers.

He asked the Zokumo Committee to also address the issue of reprisals and revenge attacks, by ensuring that “security agencies prosecute anyone found culpable in an offence in accordance with the laws of the land.”