Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong has said that if the intention of herdsmen attacking communities in the state is to grab land for themselves, it will not succeed.

Lalong who stated this in Abuja on Thursday while chatting with State House correspondents, said it was the responsibility of his government to discourage such intent.

Although he hinted that he did not think that land grabbing was the underlying cause of the attacks perpetrated against farmers in the state, the governor advised that it was time to do away with blame games over the crisis and focus on achieving lasting peace.

“I don’t think land grabbing is the main reason behind the crisis. But of course, anywhere people are chased away, government must make arrangement to rehabilitate and bring them to their place.

“So if the purpose of some people is to take the land, government should discourage that. So, in my State there will be no room for land grabbing and we have punitive measures in place to check the crisis.

“For instance, we were already in the process of amending some of our laws but with this last crisis that happened, I fast tracked the process and by next week, I will be signing the laws,” Lalong said.

While soliciting for cooperation from all stakeholders in order to end the menace, the governor added: “We are all concerned about the killings. I will not say Plateau’s case is exceptional but it is the current one that is bringing everybody together. This issue of killings must stop.

“Even yesterday when I organized prayers for the repose of the souls of those who died in the recent crisis, I told those who attended that it is no longer time for blame games.

“Rather, it is time for us to be united and chase out the evil. If we don’t do that, we will continue to blame each other and those who are the perpetrators will continue to be laughing.”

“But the bottom line is that, whoever is involved should be punished, that is justice. No governor will sit down and encourage or allow crisis. Even by omission, if you see it, you must address it squarely.”