By Tapre Timine, Bayelsa
Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, who represents Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, has condemned the recent massacres in Benue and Plateau States, branding the killings as “dastardly and callous” and calling for immediate, coordinated national action to stem the rising tide of insecurity gripping the nation.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, Dickson revealed that he had spoken directly with his “brother and friend”, the Governor of Benue State, His Excellency Fr Hyacinth Alia, as well as officials of the Plateau State Government, to convey condolences on behalf of his family, constituents, and “all Nigerians of goodwill.”
He warned that the killings, which are part of a broader pattern of terror, banditry, and displacement, pose an existential threat to Nigeria’s unity and stability.
Dickson said, “Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Southern Kaduna, and some other states in this country have borne the brunt of criminality, lawlessness, and brutality in a genocidal magnitude and frequency.”
The former governor of Bayelsa State noted with alarm that armed gunmen continue to terrorise and sack vulnerable communities across the country with seeming impunity, their actions leaving a trail of devastation that he said now rivals the horrors once associated with the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.
Calling for decisive action, the Senator urged the nation’s top security officials and political leaders to sit down and have a frank and honest conversation about what to do, and do it fast.
He outlined a complex web of causes behind the ongoing violence, ranging from clashes between herders and farmers, illegal mining activities, displacement for land grabs, to sheer criminality exacerbated by climate and economic pressures.
While acknowledging the multifaceted nature of the crisis, Dickson stressed the need to treat the matter as a non-partisan, non-ethnic, national emergency.
He said, “The time has come for everyone to see this problem as an existential Nigerian issue of national security that needs to be addressed, deviod of ethnicity, religion, politics and sentiments that normally colour national discourses.
“This was why, at the floor while contributing to a motion on this, I urged the Senate to resolve to implementing mandatory ranching, support and orientation even for the herdsmen, followed by the prohibition of open grazing nationwide.”
On the floor of the Senate, Dickson recently moved a motion calling for a nationwide policy of mandatory ranching, to be implemented with the support of the Ministry of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and other relevant bodies.
He called for robust funding mechanisms to support livestock farmers, herders, aquaculture and agribusinesses.
Further, he pressed for urgent reforms to strengthen security agencies and empower community leaders to drive out armed criminals from rural areas and forests, and enforce the prohibition of open grazing across the federation. The Senate, he revealed, adopted the motion.
He said, “we must do this as a national imperative without politics or sentiments.”
Senator Dickson issued a sombre warning: “It is not acceptable in this country or any other, for people wherever they are to be attacked, maimed, killed, and communities ransacked at will without consequences, while the rest of the country and the world move on. It is the clearest evidence of State failure and collapse.”
He pledged to take the matter up with the relevant authorities in the coming days.
