Kaduna — The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has called on the federal government to investigate the recent killing of over 50 pastoralists and butchers in Ekye Development Area, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The forum, which made the call in a statement yesterday by its Secretary General, Murtala Aliyu, recalled that on January 25, 2023, about 51 herdsmen were reported killed in Ekye, allegedly in an airstrike by a drone.

The ACF, while condemning the killings, said "in a serious country, the death of one person is enough to attract the attention and intervention of the government."

The statement, however, commended the Nasarawa State Government for its intervention and for giving medical attention and support to survivors and the victims' families.

"To our knowledge only government has the power to deploy armed drones. The circumstances surrounding the killing of pastoralists, who went to Makurdi, the Benue State capital to retrieve 1250 impounded cattle from the Benue Livestock guards after paying a fine of N29 million to guards.

"Sources told the ACF that drone strike happened while the livestock were being offloaded after the owners were forced to take back their cattle in trucks from Makurdi.

"This incident came barely six months after a similar incident in which hundreds of livestock were killed when a helicopter gunship belonging to the Nigerian Air force from the Makurdi Base Operation carried out the strike, killing and wounding the animals and some herders in Awe also in Nasarawa State," the statement said.

ACF lamented that, "In a serious country, the death of one person is enough to attract the attention and intervention of the government. "The Nigerian air space is managed by the federal government through the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA).

"So we expect the federal government to immediately fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly act, whoever they are to face the law. We, however, wish to commend the Nasarawa State Government for the intervention they made so far in giving medical attention and support to survivors and the victims' family.

"The ACF condemns this unwarranted killing and extends its condolences to the families of the deceased and the Government of Nasarawa state," the forum said, even as it called for adequate compensation for the families of the victims.