The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Critics of Buhari say he has done little or nothing to stop the violence because the herders are his kinsmen from Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said late Wednesday that lawmakers “passed a vote of no confidence on (military) service chiefs and security advisers and called for their replacement”.
“We also resolved to summon (Buhari) in order to answer pertinent questions concerning what the Executive is doing to put a decisive end to the spate of killings in different states of the Federation,” he wrote in a tweet.
“The foremost responsibility of government is to ensure the safety of lives and property and as a responsive Legislature backed by the mandate of our constituents, we cannot continue to look on as our people are murdered in cold blood.”
In Benue state, some 385 people have been killed in clashes since January, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project.
The state lies in Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt, where the mainly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south.
Thousands of people have been killed over decades in clashes between cattle herders and farmers over land and water, with the conflict polarised along religious and ethnic lines.
Local politicians have described the state as “under siege” while Christian groups have expressed fears about Islamification. Cattle breeders say they suspect a political agenda.
Buhari, elected in 2015, has promised to be tough on “insurgency, terrorism, ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping (and) rural banditry”.
He is seeking re-election in February next year.
