President Muhammadu Buhari has again said that herdsmen in Nigeria do not carry guns but only wield sticks and occasionally machetes.
He said this on Monday in Washington DC during the bilateral talk with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that herdsmen crisis in Nigeria is an age-long challenge.
โThe problem of herders in Nigeria is a very long historical thing. The Nigerian herders donโt carry anything more than a stick and occasionally a matchet to cut down foliage and give it to their animals, these ones are carrying AK-47.
โSo, people should not underrate what happened in Libya. 43 years of Ghaddaffi, people were recruited from Sahel and trained to shoot and kill. With the demise of Ghaddaffi they moved to other countries and region and carried the experience with them,โ he said.
President Buhari added that this is what is aggravating herdsmen crisis in Nigeria. He also appreciated the United States government for assisting in Nigeriaโs fight against insurgency and for US military presence in Nigeria.
โWe are grateful to the United States for agreeing to give us the aircraft that we asked for. We are even more grateful for the physical presence of the United States military officials in Nigeria. Our institutions in Nigeria, for training them and going to the Northeast to see how they are performing.
โThe commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have fast earned experience from that and we are grateful for it,โ he said.
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