It seems to me that people in
power are waiting for the total annihilation of the lower class and even the
middle class before they will decide on what to do to stop the incessant
killings going on in the country. The
rate at which they theorize issues or speak grammar of regret and condemnation
of killing without doing anything serious to stop it is heart breaking. Slowly,
the strength of Nigeria and its manpower are butchered in their tens and hundreds,
yet all we hear is news of how government regrets and condemns the killings and
what they are planning to do. If our lives are not valued even in our own
country, why will it be valued outside Nigeria? No wonder Nigerian illegal
emigrants are slaughtered by other Africans outside Nigeria.
When will all these killings stop?
When will President Buhari perform the magic that he said his predecessor is
incapable of performing? We are talking about human beings here, not animals. Are
they waiting for Nigerians to be wiped out completely before they swung to
action? If they are actually Nigerians they should act fast, otherwise, I don’t
see them as Nigerians because they are just the smart ones who receive salaries
and allowances for doing nothing. As far as I am concerned, the active
Nigerians are being slaughtered and it has to stop.
Meanwhile, below is the report
of the Benue killings culled from This Day of January 4, 2018.
Anger spilled out onto the
streets of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Wednesday over the gruesome
killing of about 50 persons by suspected armed herdsmen in Guma and Logo Local
Government Areas of the state on New Year day and Tuesday.
Protesting residents, mostly
youths, booed and stoned the state governor, Samuel Ortom, forcing the
government to draft troops to quell the massive protest in the state capital
and neighboring towns and to prevent mayhem.
The governor had gone to
placate the restive youths at Wurukum where the protest was taking place in
Makurdi Wednesday but he was met with angry youths who were incensed over his
seeming inability to keep the marauding herders in check.
The placard carrying protesters
also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over his failure to provide
adequate security for the state.
The president, however,
condemned the mindless killings and wanton destruction of property in the
state, and ordered the security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.
This is just as the police in
Benue said Wednesday they had arrested eight herdsmen over the deaths of 10
persons and seven livestock guard in the Guma and Logo on Monday.
There has been tension in the
state since the passage of the Anti-open Grazing Bill into law last November.
The law is meant to encourage
ranching and check the menace of herders and their cattle, which often destroy
farmlands in Benue and has led to bloody clashes and attacks in the past,
resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people in the state.
However, since the enactment of
the law, the cattle breeders association, known as Miyetti Allah, have vowed to
resist the law and were accused of threatening to carry out attacks against
citizens in the state.
But in order to quell the protest
in Makurdi Wednesday, soldiers from the 72 Battalion North Bank were brought in
to control the protesting youths and restore order, after word got out that two
protesters had been wounded.
The protesters called on the
presidency to bring the culprits to book and carried placards with inscriptions
such as “presidential intervention needed”, “why value cows more than humans”,
and “stop this incessant blood bath”.
Some of them chanted: “We will
not vote for the present administration again at both the state and federal
levels if this crises don’t stop.”
According to the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN), the protesters also barricaded major roads leading in and out of
Makurdi, and vowed not to leave the streets until the presidency spoke on the
killings.
They also called on the
government to intervene in the series of other attacks on rural communities by
armed herdsmen.
A resident, Mr. Terhemen Anum,
told NAN that residents of Guma and Logo were yet to determine the number of
peasant farmers, women, children and the aged that were massacred during the
two-day killing spree.
Also, Mrs. Ruth Agba said the
killing of Benue farmers and destruction to their homes and farms was no
different from Boko Haram activities in the North-east.
Despite the anger, Ortom, while
briefing reporters, called for calm over the situation and asked residents not
to take the law into their hands.
He disclosed that more
casualties of the attacks were still been brought to Makurdi, and confirmed
that the carnage had been reported to the president.
“I have reported the matter to
the president and we are expecting action. Some of the people we have evidence
against are the leaders of Miyetti Allah who have been threatening the state.
We are calling on the president to arrest them immediately,” he said.
He said the federal government
should rise to its responsibility “if not they are saying Benue is not part of
Nigeria”.
Buhari Orders Arrest
Reacting to the wanton killing
spree in Benue, Buhari Wednesday in Abuja commiserated with the state governor
and ordered the security agencies to fish out the killers.
The president, according to a
terse statement by his media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, expressed immense sadness
over the attacks on the two local government areas in Benue, describing them as
wicked and callous attacks on even innocent children.
Shehu said the president
assured the governor and people of the state that the relevant security
agencies had been directed to do everything possible to arrest the culprits of
the regrettable incidents and avert further attacks.
Describing the destruction as
“one attack too many”, Shehu said the president added that “everything must be
done to provide security for the people in our rural communities”, adding that
Buhari also commiserated with families of the victims and wished those injured
speedy recovery.
Also commenting on the wave of
killings in the country in recent days, a former vice-president of Nigeria and
chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, described as
unacceptable the cycle of blood-letting that has led to the loss of precious
lives across the country.
Atiku made the charge against
the backdrop of recent killings in Rivers, Kaduna, Benue and other parts of the
country, including Wednesday’s early morning suicide bombing at the Gamboru
mosque in Borno, barely three days into the New Year.
The Waziri Adamawa, according
to a statement by his media office in Abuja Wednesday, said the killings in
those states, and other senseless killings and reprisal blood-letting that had
preceded them in the past across the country were ungodly, “a throwback to the
stone age and a hindrance to the promotion of peace and unity in the country”.
Atiku stressed that the
diversity of Nigeria remains one of its strongest points, reminding leaders of
all persuasion and at all levels to ensure that they promote the things that
unite Nigerians rather than those that create divisions.
“That the Almighty in His
Wisdom made us a nation of different tongues and tribes; made us Africa’s most
populous nation with more than 300 tribes is no accident. If well enhanced, our
diversity should be our biggest strength.
“There cannot be development
when innocent lives are being lost in a seemingly endless cycle of attacks and
reprisals. While we should hold every life as precious, it is more painful that
the victims of these attacks are women and youths – the demography that we
depend upon to drive development,” he said.
The former vice-president
called on Nigerians to use the opportunity of the New Year to reflect on these
needless killings and to resolve to live in peace and harmony.
He also prayed for the
fortitude of the bereaved families.
In its reaction also, the
national leadership of the PDP condemned the recent terror attacks and killings
unleashed on innocent Nigerians in Benue, Kaduna and Rivers States.
While reacting to the
unfortunate incident Wednesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary Kola
Ologbondiyan said the president should take immediate steps to arrest all those
behind the dastardly act.
“PDP condemns the wanton
killings in some parts of our nation, particularly Benue State. We urge
President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate arrest of the criminal
herders murdering the people Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue
State.
“These killings are horrible, senseless and
wicked. This is a time when silence is not noble,” he said.
Similarly, the Benue State
chapters of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) condemned the
horrific killing of innocent people in the local government areas by suspected
herdsmen.
The Benue PDP, in a press
statement signed by its publicity secretary, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, said the state
chapter of the party totally condemned the barbaric act, which it said
qualified by every standard as an act of terrorism employed in the pursuit of
an agenda that was genocidal in character.
“Our hearts go out in sympathy
to the victims, the dead, those injured, and the displaced ones wandering about
terrorized, dehumanized and thrust into the cruel, merciless embrace of
destitution and hardship,” the state PDP said.
The party said it was
unacceptable that Buhari has continued to concentrate on the deployment of
security resources of the federal government solely on the Boko Haram
challenge, while turning a blind eye to the bloody carnage of armed herdsmen in
Benue communities and a deaf ear to the cries of their helpless victims.
Adding that Buhari must, as a
matter of duty, urgently shift or share his focus from an “already defeated”
Boko Haram to the rapidly growing menace of armed herdsmen killing helpless
farmers and burning down their properties, it said this will be in fulfillment
of the oath he took to protect one and all Nigerians from harm and injustice,
without fear or favour.
The spokesman of the APC in
Benue, Mr. Abba Yaro, also described the massive killing of over 50 people by
the herdsmen as an invitation to civil war.
In a statement issued
Wednesday, Yaro decried the recent killings as an attempt to spark a second
civil war in Nigeria, insisting that it was a clear case of ethnic cleansing
around the Benue valley, which must be stopped immediately.
While calling on Buhari to
immediately call the herdsmen to order and direct the security agency to
apprehend the killers, APC also called on all Benue sons and daughters,
irrespective of party affiliations, to rise in defense of their communities.
“This is above party politics, it is about
human lives. How can you kill a pregnant woman and remove the unborn child and
slaughter it? It is barbaric, unspeakable and generally unpalatable,” the APC
statement read in part.
APC said the Anti-open Grazing Law
in Benue was not targeted at any set of persons but for the general security of
the state, a measure against cattle rustling and a solution for herders/farmers
perennial clashes.
It maintained that its
enforcement was ongoing and the state APC was in support of the governor and
will not be deterred.
“The Anti-open Grazing Law has
co
me to stay,” the state chapter of the ruling party maintained.
It also warned that if the
herdsmen are not called to order by the relevant authorities and refuse to stop
the ethnic cleansing, Benue people shall take the law into their hands in self-defense.
Eight Herdsmen Apprehended
Meanwhile, the police in Benue
said Wednesday that they had arrested eight herdsmen over the deaths of 10
persons and seven livestock guards in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of
the state on Monday.
The police public relations
officer in the state, Moses Yamu, who made this known during a briefing in
Makurdi, said: “Eight herdsmen, six in Guma and two in Logo, had been arrested
in connection with the attacks.”
He added that the state police
command had made additional deployments in the troubled areas to forestall
further attacks and restore the confidence of the people.
Yamu stressed the situation in
the two local government areas had been brought under control while
investigations were ongoing.
He said: “They attacked Tomater
village in Sengev council ward, Akor village in Nzorov council ward, and Bakin
Kwata village in Umanger council ward of Guma LGA.
“Among those killed were seven members
of Benue State Livestock Guards, their vehicle burnt and an uncertain number of
persons injured in separate attacks between 31/12/2017 and 02/01/2018.
“Again, Agba-Uko near Azege
village and Tse-Aga village of Logo LGA experienced the same fate, where one
person was killed, one motorcycle burnt and four persons injured.
“All the injured from both LGAs are currently
undergoing treatment in various hospitals in the state.”
According to him, five combined
teams of riot and conventional policemen led by the Assistant Commissioner of
Police, Operations, Emmanuel Adesina, had engaged the armed herdsmen in a gun
duel in Guma.
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