Buhari links Gadaffi’s hit men with killer-herdsmen

Who are the killer-herdsmen? They are gunmen trained by the late Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, President Muhammadu Buhari said
yesterday.

The President spoke at the Abuja House in London when Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby visited him.

The gunmen, he said, escaped into Nigeria and other West African countries after Gadaffi’s death.

He spoke, even as suspected herdsmen killed 13 people in Benue and Nasarawa states on Tuesday. Responding to Welby’s comment on the herdsmen and farmers’ clashes in some parts of the country, Buhari said: ”The problem is even older than us. It has always been there, but now made worse by the influx of gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region.

“They were trained and armed by Muammar Gadaffi of Libya. When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms. We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram.

“Herdsmen that we used to know carried only sticks and maybe a cutlass to clear the way, but these ones now carry sophisticated weapons. The problem is not religious, but sociological and economic. But we are working on solutions.”

The President said “irresponsible politics” had been brought into the farmers/herders’ crisis, promising that enduring solutions would be found, and justice done to all concerned.

He said he declared his second-term bid on Monday before his London trip because many Nigerians were “talking too much” about whether he was going to run or not.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, quoted him as saying: ”I declared before leaving home because Nigerians were talking too much about whether I would run or not.