Community leaders urged to ensure peace among farmers, herders

By Donald Iorchir

Traditional rulers have been urged to play active roles in dousing tension between farmers and herdsmen to “encourage understanding, reduce or eliminate clashes between the two groups in the interest of safety of lives and property.”
Newly coronated traditional ruler of Tunga in Tunga Awe local government area of neighbouring Nasarawa state, Chief Gideon Ikyo, who replaced his late father, Zaki James Iortim Ikyo, the first ruler of Tunga chiefdom on the throne, made the call recently in a chat with our correspondent
During the coronation, which was conducted by Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim Shuiabu, the royal father charged Tunga indigenes and residents to be law-abiding, “especially during this period of insecurity.”
He stated that when traditional rulers intervened in conflicts, Fulani herdsmen would be able to understand that farmers were not their enemies and that “each group requires the other to survive.”
Ikyo was coronated as the Akpenwuan of Tunga, while many other prominent indigenes were also conferred with traditional titles as village heads.
He thanked elders and youths of the community for giving him the opportunity to serve, even as he promised to work within the law for peace and unity in Tunga.
The royal father maintained that as a born-again Christian, he would look unto God to give him more wisdom to reign as a king without fear or favour.

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