Musa, who spoke while featuring on the Arise TV PrimeTime programme, identified three key factors contributing to the conflict: the perception of land grabbing, the issue of stray animals damaging crops, and the lack of adequate resolution mechanisms.

Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has shed light on the underlying causes of the ongoing killings in Benue State.

Musa, who spoke while featuring on the Arise TV PrimeTime programme, identified three key factors contributing to the conflict: the perception of land grabbing, the issue of stray animals damaging crops, and the lack of adequate resolution mechanisms.

Historically, Musa explained, when a cow entered a farm and damaged crops, the owner would pay compensation. However, over time, this practice stopped, leading to a breakdown in relations between farmers and herders.

He emphasised that the land grabbing issue is political and requires government intervention to bring all parties together and establish clear guidelines.

He called on the state government to step in and facilitate dialogue between farmers and herders to establish a framework for resolving disputes.

By addressing the issues of land grabbing and stray animals and establishing effective mechanisms for resolving disputes, Musa expressed the belief that peace can be restored to the region.

In the interview, he said: "And it started in the past: if a cow enters a farm and damages the farm, the cow is arrested or caught, and compensations are paid. If they kill the animals, suddenly compensations are paid. Over time, that stopped. What stopped it? That's the problem. So, we started losing faith in those formulas.

“Instead of these settlements, people started taking the law into their own hands - if a cow gets into the farm, the farmer will be angry, deals with the cow, and if he deals with the cow, the owner of the cow also gets angry and attacks the farmer. So, these are the issues on the ground.

"From my own assessment, three things matter: the people in Benue State believe that there's land grabbing going on. They have that perception, and because of that, this has happened. Most of our troops, when we send them on patrol, some of the areas are empty; nobody is there, and there's no foreigner there. But the idea is that if you go in there, you might be attacked.

"Secondly, the issue of the animals - the animals stray into farms now because, if you know Benue, it is lush and very attractive to animals. If an animal gets into a farm, there's always a problem; it creates problems. Now, if you arrest the animal or you kill the animal, it becomes another issue. So, if we stop the animals from moving, they won’t be a problem. If we stop killing them, there’ll be an issue. For me, these two things are basic.

"The issue of land grabbing is political. Government, particularly the state government, really needs to step in to ensure that we address it and bring all the parties together, sit down, and agree on this."

"And from henceforth, any act that is conducted is an act of criminality, we can start dealing with that from then. And I think we will have peace if we are able to do that," Musa stated.