The Senate minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to publicly declare that he does not support violent herdsmen.
While speaking on Channels TV on Monday morning, Abaribe said the failure of the government to fish out and punish killer herdsmen had only empowered them.
The lawmaker said the president should be concerned that crimes all over the country were attributed to a particular set of people.
He said, “The President needs to come out and say categorically that he does not support the activities of violent herdsmen.
“He needs to say I do not support their actions, Buhari needs to come out for every Nigerian to see his intention to own this problem.
“Why wouldn’t you as chief executive of a country come out and say I’m giving marching orders to security agencies that these cannot continue to happen.
“Where has the President ever said publicly that these criminal herdsmen will never be tolerated.
“I’ve only heard his Spokesman, Adesina say it and not from him.
“What we’ve heard from 2006 is live in peace with your neighbour, try to accommodate your country men and stuffs of that nature.
“This enables those that are committing these crimes that there is no punishment.
“As a president, you should be very worried when you see things happening in the country targeted at a particular set of people. You should ask what is it that makes these people continue to commit these crimes.”