Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, David Umahi, has said that the region is being terrorised by foreign herdsmen who do not speak Hausa or English.
Umahi said this after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
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The Ebonyi State Governor said he formally presented a request to the President from Igbo stakeholders for joint security operations to address the herdsmen menace in the region.
Umahi said: “We also told Mr President about the foreign herdsmen that come to our land with AK47. It has heightened tension in the region. They kill and maim our people; rape our women and people are very much afraid of going to farms and most of these people are in the thick bushes in the South-East.
“So, we requested joint operation with security forces to flush these people out. We don’t really have issues with our traditional herdsmen some of them have been living with us for quite a long time.
“But the foreign herdsmen, most of them don’t even speak Hausa neither do they speak Fulani nor English and a number of them are being caught by security agencies and it’s introducing a new dimension in the name of herdsmen.”
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The governor said he also spoke with the President about Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
He said: “I know that in the last administration we had to rehabilitate Port Harcourt International Airport and because it went through budgetary provisions it lasted for two years. So, we are pleading for similar gesture for Enugu International Airport so that special funding could be given to the Honourable Minister of Aviation.”
