The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has said the British Government is engaging Nigeria’s federal and state governments over killings allegedly being perpetrated by herdsmen in some parts of the country.
This is contained in a letter signed by Angela Almona (Whitehall Nigeria Unit) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The letter was addressed to Dr Kohol Shadrach Iornem, the Vice President of the Mutual Union of Tiv in the United Kingdom.
The Publicity Secretary of MUTUK, Salome Biam, in a cover note which accompanied the letter, said the British Prime Minister was replying to a protest letter earlier submitted to her over the killings in Benue State where 73 people were given a mass burial.
May was quoted in the letter as saying, “We express our concerns about this issue and encourage the government to work with the affected populations to develop a solution that meets the needs of all the communities affected.
“The British Government is concerned about the issue of unprovoked attacks and killing by Fulani herdsmen in Benue and some states and we are engaging the government of Nigeria to find a solution to these killings.”
Biam said the Tiv community in the UK had, on January 22, staged a protest to the office of the Prime Minister and submitted a petition to her office.
The petition was titled: ‘Stopping the systematic killings and displacement of rural farming communities by Terror Fulani Cattle Herdsmen in the Benue Valley of Nigeria’.
The Tiv community requested the British Government to consider intervening in the alleged systematic ethnic cleansing against their people and other tribes in Nigeria.
The protesters also requested the British Government to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria to take necessary steps to identify and disarm the Fulani herders and their accomplices while providing protection for the victims.
