THE member representing Rano-Bunkure Federal Constituency of Kano State in the House of Representatives, Alhassan Rurum, has urged his constituents to stop hunting in the southern part of Nigeria.
He said the practice is no longer justifiable.
Rurum gave the advice when he visited Bunkure Village on Thursday, April 17, to meet families of the hunters who were killed by vigilantes in Uromi, Edo State, recently.
The lawmaker stated that the level of insecurity faced across the country had changed certain practices, such as hunting, requiring hunters from one part of the country not to move to other parts of the nation to do such a business.
He told his hosts that because of prevailing insecurity, people should not carry weapons like guns and cutlasses and move from one region in the nation to another in the name of hunting.
“It’s like you living in this community and to see some Southern tribe wielding dangerous weapons coming around, they don’t speak your language, and you don’t speak theirs. What would be your reaction?
“In like manner, you can’t be wielding dangerous weapons in southern communities where you don’t speak their language and they don’t speak yours in the name of hunting,” the lawmaker stated.
He pledged to meet with hunters’ associations in the state to reiterate his counsel.
The lawmaker donated N5 million to the victims’ families and promised to build a school in their memory.
The hunters’ killing in Edo State, on their way from Rivers State to their home state, Kano, generated outrage across the country, with many calling for a thorough investigation into the incident.
The ICIR reported that President Bola Tinubu and other prominent Nigerians condemned the killing.
Tinubu, who expressed shock at the dastardly act, directed police and other security agencies to conduct swift and thorough investigations and punish the culprits.
Similarly, former vice president Atiku Abubakar expressed sadness over the attack.
In a tweet he posted on X, Abubakar said the protection of innocent lives must remain paramount and urged the authorities to act swiftly and decisively to prevent a recurrence of jungle justice.
Also, in a post on X, former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, condemned the killing.
The Edo State Government, led by Governor Monday Okpebholo and his counterpart in Kano, Abba Yusuf, and other eminent Nigerians have worked to ensure that people behind the attack are arrested and punished.
A reporter with the ICIR
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