TheCable

Muhammad Badaru, governor of Jigawa state, says President Muhammadu Buhari is doing his best to resolve the crisis involving farmers and herders in the country.

The Jigawa governor, who stated this on Thursday when he featured on a Channels Television programme, said the herder-farmer crisis has been brewing for many years, owing to the “neglect of past leaders”.

Badaru also commended the present administration’s efforts on security, noting that the bombings carried out by Boko Haram have reduced.

He also argued that banditry and kidnapping did not start under the administration of Buhari but “it just continued”.

“The Fulani herdsmen crisis with the farmers has been brewing for so many years, and that developed over time because of the neglect of past leaders,” Badaru said.

“Unfortunately for us, it gets right at this time and President Muhammadu Buhari is doing his best to solve this problem and curtail the onslaught.

“If we look at this critically and analyse it critically, certainly the banditry and kidnapping did not start with Buhari, it just continued.”

‘BUHARI IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO NIGERIA’

Asked if he agrees with the stance of some governors in the All Progressives Congress (APC) that Buhari is the best thing that has happened to Nigeria since independence, the governor said he supports the position “100 percent”.

The governor said without the support of Buhari, some governors will not be able to pay salaries and carry out infrastructural development.

“Certainly, I agree with the given circumstances we have now. I believe 100 percent. I know what I inherited. I know the trouble I got through. I know at one time, I even wanted to leave. Really, without the support of Buhari, we wouldn’t have raised our heads up as governors,” he said.

“If you remember, he bailed out all the states, gave 18-month support for us to pay salaries — all of the governors. He paid the Paris fund money for all to do infrastructure.”