Timeline of Buhari’s action on herdsmen attacks

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is working round the clock to end the

In a letter to the Senate read at plenary on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, by the Senator Bukola Saraki, President Buhari said it was incorrect to say that the government was not working to address the matter.

Here’s a timeline of President Buhari’s actions on the killings in Benue state according to the letter.

1. Interior Minister’s visit to Benue

“On Thursday 4th January, I sent the minister of interior and the deputy inspector-general of police in charge of operations for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation," President Buhari said.

“On Friday 5th January, the inspector-general of police briefed me verbally on the latest situation, calm had then been restored," he added.

2. Security meeting

“On Monday 8th, the minister of interior met with the following, governors of Adamawa, Kaduna, Niger, Benue Taraba and Nasarawa together with the DG of the , inspector-general of police, CG civil defence, minister of agriculture and rural development and police commissioner of the six aforementioned states," he said.

3. Meeting with the Benue state governor

“After the meeting instructed the minister of interior to brief you on the information gathered so far and steps taken. On Tuesday, 9th of January, at a session with governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state during which in informed of police arrests of some suspects. In addition, I told him that have instructed to speed up trial of the suspects and give wide publicity of the police efforts," he announced.

“At the instance of the governor, a meeting was held in the presidential villa on 15th with a wide cross-section of Benue personalities and frank and open discussions were held. Everybody appreciated the difficulties of this farmers-herders’ strife. I assured all of my commitment and assured justice would be done.

“To infer therefore that nothing has been done, is incorrect. The police are strenuously working to apprehend the rest of the culprits of these heartless killings," the President declared.

4. IGP relocation to Benue state

“Furthermore, I have instructed the IGP to relocate to Benue state and redeploy forces to the most sensitive towns. The federal government is initiating measures to address these and other security challenges, alleviate the consequence of these attacks and forestall re-occurrence,” the President said.

5. Buhari received Senate report on the Benue killings.

“On December 19, 2017 to be precise, while of the committee that was set up to review the technical and administrative structure of the NIA, I underscored the need review the entire national security architecture as I promised in my inaugural address on the 29th May 2015, action is being initiated to receive maximum cooperation from the senate in line with paragraph three of the senate resolutions,” the President stated.

Fulani herdsmen had launched a series of attacks on Benue communities of Guma and Logo local government on January 1, 2018.

The attacks led to the killing over one hundred Benue indigenes early January 2018.

Seventy-three bodies recovered from the villages were buried in mass graves on Thursday, January 11, 2017.