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Tag: Benue killings

  • Benue killings: Kwankwaso donates relief materials to displaced persons

    Benue killings: Kwankwaso donates relief materials to displaced persons

    There was palpable excitement in Benue State as Governor Samuel Ortom recently received Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano.

    Kwankwaso who was on a solidarity visit to the state courtesy the recent fulani herdsmen attacks, told his host that he came with 1,200 bags of rice for displaced persons numbering about 80, 000.

    He condemned the killing of 70 persons on January 1 and promised that the National Assembly would intervene and proffer permanent solution to the crisis.

    Kwankwaso urged the Federal Government to unravel the reasons for mass killing in Benue and bring perpetrators to book, assist displaced persons and the state government to rehabilitate victims in Guma and Logo local government areas (LGAs).

    Governor Ortom thanked Kwankwaso for coming to the aid of displaced persons, adding that those affected would not forget the gesture.

  • Senate’s discordant tunes on Benue killings

    Senate’s discordant tunes on Benue killings

    QUITE appropriately, the highest legislative body in the country, the Senate, last Tuesday debated the killings perpetrated by herdsmen in some parts of the country, particularly Benue State. The debates were however desultory, emotional and shockingly inadequate. If Nigeria is distressed today, it is not just because the executive branch has proved, as is well known, incompetent in dealing with the huge challenges besetting the country, it is also because the legislature is polemically unable to rise up intellectually to the level of sensibly grappling with the complexities and depth of those challenges.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, in his contributions on the floor of the Senate, believes that the best remedy is to get the federal government to declare a state of emergency in all parts of the country, deploy troops, and support the decision with the appropriate laws. This, he thinks, will curb both the killings and lawlessness orchestrated in nearly all parts of the country as well as guarantee peace. If this was not laughable enough, another senator, a former governor of Kebbi State, Adamu Aliero, incredibly argues that it is necessary to exhume the atrocious and insensitive grazing reserves bill sponsored by another senator and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, which mandated the federal government to all but expropriate portions of land from all parts of the country and turn them into grazing reserves for the herdsmen. The grazing reserves, says Senator Aliero, is another name for grazing colonies.

    To be sure, there were many counterpoints to these insensitive submissions, including those of Senators Samuel Anyanwu and former senate president David Mark who both argue that the problem is either caused or encouraged by failure of intelligence, or that it is arrogant and insulting for the government to begin to expropriate land on behalf of private businessmen. There was also the submission by the radical and fiery Senator Shehu Sani which lays the blame for the government’s impotence squarely at the doorstep of the president. The president must wake up and protect the country, he says firmly.

    But perhaps the most discordant of the tunes coming from the Senate was one of the resolutions from the debate, suggesting that the police be given two weeks deadline to fish out the perpetrators of the January 1, 2018 killings in which about 73 people lost their lives and were buried in a mass funeral ceremony two Thursdays ago. Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, confidently responded that the law enforcement agencies would make progress even before the two-week ultimatum expired. But both the giver of the ultimatum and the receiver are unrealistic. The problem is doubtless an urgent one, and it is appropriate that the security agencies make expeditious progress; but to put a timeline on the apprehension of criminals, especially in view of the powerful and untouchable individuals who have indirectly claimed responsibility for the killings, is to cajole a police establishment notorious for false arrests to work from the answer to the question.

    The executive arm has been strangely reticent and incoherent, even sometimes caterwauling about God’s role in the whole brouhaha. The legislative arm wades in with a fiercely and copiously dissonant argument that badly mocks its claims of ratiocinative brilliance. The judiciary, for reasons everyone knows, but which the government pretends to be ignorant of, has not always moderated the fights between farmers and herdsmen with the juridical promptness and finesse expected of them. And now, with a security apparatus firmly locked in the hands of uninspiring and insular individuals, many of them ethnic jingoists, the country cannot dare to expect more than a superficial handling of the crisis.

    Between the incoherent executive and dissonant legislature, not to talk of the despondent judiciary and insular security agencies, it is doubtful whether the bloody herdsmen/farmers crisis can be tackled with the clarity and promptness that conduce to peace, development and stability. There is nothing that has been said or done so far to give hope that the political atmosphere, not to say the future entirely, is as clement as the ruling party projected in its winning manifesto.

  • Benue killings: Civil Defence deploy special forces

    Benue killings: Civil Defence deploy special forces

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has deployed 200 special forces to help tackle security challenges in Benue state.

    The special forces are drawn from Taraba, Nassarawa, Kogi and Benue states command.

    The Deputy Commandant General (DCG), Directorate of crisis management, Dr Emmanuel Adeoye, who led the troops to Makurdi, on behalf of the Commandant General (CG), said they were in the state to complement effort of other security agencies.

    Adeoye assured the troops the Commandant General has designed a special welfare package to boast their morale during the operation in Benue state.

    He said the squad will be deployed to troubled areas to maintained peace and order.

    There was display by the special squad to the  admiration of Adeoye, who told our correspondent his men are mentally sound for the task ahead.

  • Benue killings: PDP accuses APC governors, ministers of hypocrisy

    Benue killings: PDP accuses APC governors, ministers of hypocrisy

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and cabinet ministers of hypocrisy in the handling of the Fulani herdsmen attacks killed 73 people in Benue State.

    In a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party flayed the collective silence of the governors and some serving ministers following President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to visit the affected communities.

    The party said it is a tragic failure of character and an act of hypocrisy that the same APC governors who, in 2013, unleashed insults on the PDP and its Federal Government for delay in visiting Borno State at the heat of insurgency attacks, have lost their voices now that President Buhari had refused to visit Benue, Taraba or Kaduna to condole the people.

    The PDP noted that neither the APC governors nor any federal delegation had visited Benue, Taraba or Kaduna since the unabating killings and traumatizing mass burial of the victims.

    PDP said: “It is unfortunate that the same APC leaders, who heavily criticised the PDP and wrongly accused it of staying away from troubled parts of the country, have become dumb under President Buhari despite his daily failures in governance and heartrending indifference to the plight of Nigerians.

    “Today, Nigerians are heartbroken to realise that those they thought were patriots and messiahs never had any iota of goodwill towards them.

    “The questions are; why have the APC governors and ministers suddenly lost their voices now that President Buhari has refused to visit Benue or shown any form of empathy to the plight of Nigerians? Have Benue and Taraba now become ‘no go areas’ for President Buhari? Indeed, this indifference calls for deeper reflection by Nigerians.

    “We challenge the APC governors to have a change of attitude towards Nigerians and at least show that they also are human, especially at this trying time, which the inept APC government has plunged the nation into.”

  • Benue killings: FG agricultural programme under treat – Peace institute

    Benue killings: FG agricultural programme under treat – Peace institute

    The Director -General of Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Prof. Oshita Obang Oshita, on Tuesday warned that the current violence in the country could derail the Federal Government’s agricultural programme.

    Oshita said as part of the move to mitigate against reoccurrence, the institute would arrange meetings with various stakeholders.

    The meetings, he said would leverage on the institute early warning data.

    He, therefore urged all the parties involved in the dispute to exercise restraint and embrace peace and dialogue in resolving the problem.

    Oshita, who  addressed journalists on the conflicts in some parts of the country, said violence is a tool for the coward.

    He also described the crisis as a big treat to the government food security and agricultural programmes.

    He said: “The recurring reign of terror on hapless communities by unknown persons for whatever reasons at this period when the Federal Government is focusing on developing agriculture and diversifying the economy, represents serious threat to rural communities that constitute the bedrock of agriculture in Nigeria.”

    Oshita also blamed the Benue, Taraba and other killings on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.

  • NBA flays govt over Benue killings by herdsmen

    NBA flays govt over Benue killings by herdsmen

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned what it called unwarranted killing of innocent and unarmed Nigerians by suspected herdsmen, saying they were preventable.

    It decried the inability of both the federal and state governments to curb the incessant killings across the country.

    NBA, in a statement by its General Secretary Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju reads in part: “The NBA notes with greatest displeasure and serious concerns recent unwarranted killings and carnage in various states of the federation, most especially in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states as result of herdsmen invasion

    “The NBA offers its deepest condolences to the governments of Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states as well as families of those who lost their relations as a result of these unfortunate and preventable incidents.

    “The NBA under the leadership A. B. Mahmoud (SAN) pledges its support for policies, programmes and legislations that would produce permanent solutions to the incessant Herdsmen invasions  across the country.”

    The association urged the Federal Government to activate all constitutional measures to urgently douse mounting tension in affected areas.

    “The NBA also calls on all parties in the crisis to desist from further use of negative languages that might escalate the already tensed situation in the country.

    “No nation under the rule of law would stand by and allow mindless criminalities and wanton destruction of lives and property to go on unchecked as this would be an open invitation to anarchy.

    “The president of the NBA shall within the shortest possible time lead a high powered delegation of the NBA on a fact finding mission to Benue, Taraba and other states affected by similar crisis in order to further parley with the affected communities in finding a common solution to the invasion and or clashes and prevent future occurrences.

    “The NBA urges the media to show restraint in their reportage of the clashes in order to prevent further escalation to other areas,” the association added.

    In a related development, NBA Ikeja branch also berated the Federal Government for “its shoddy handling of the killings”.

    Addressing a press conference in Lagos, the branch Chairman, Mr Adesina Ogunlana, accused the government of promoting anarchy in the state, saying the government has the responsibility of ensuring adequate security for the people.

    Ogunlana said: “The government by its deliberate reaction and silence is promoting anarchy and as such, a self- disturbing agent of itself and the country. The incompetence of government in this matter is deliberate in our view because the capacity is there to deal much better with the situation.”

    He  warned that if the situation persisted, it could constitute enough ground for impeachment.

    Ogunlana said: “Many Nigerians are persuaded that the Buhari government is aiding some groups of people who are kinsmen of President Buhari to take over the lands and properties of other Nigerians by war of conquest and decimation.

    “If the government continues in encouraging, condoning the Fulani herdsmen, there will be massive self-help retaliation against their rapine as the people of Benue, Taraba and other would not forever fold their arms and continue to as candidates for genocide”, he warned.

    Ogunlana said the rise in killings in the North, particularly around the Middle Belt, Southsouth and Southwest, had become of concern to the NBA for many reasons.

    He said more worrisome to the NBA  branch was the  emergence of “a community of armed, murderous killers and ravagers nomenclature “Fulani herdsmen” and the heightening of their activities shortly after the coming into power of the Muhammadu Buhari administration”.

    He said they were also concerned over the wide-scale Fulani herdsmen massacre of people who are agrarians and whose farms, homes and lives have been destroyed gruesomely among other reasons.

    He maintained that the Ikeja bar is unhappy and unsatisfied with the government over its handling of the Fulani herdsmen killing of the Benue people.

    Ogunlana said the recent fuel scarcity experienced in the country had rubbished all the grand claims of the government made in 2016 that it had found a lasting solution to the problem of supply of petrol.

    He said Nigerians were tired of the blame game between the government and independent marketers on fuel supply to the people.

    Pointing out that petrol is crucial to the happiness, comfort, progress and service of the people, Ogunlana advised the government to take proactive measures to prevent a reoccurrence of scarcity of the product in future.

  • Buhari, Fulani factor and the Benue killings

    Among the states that have been badly hit since beginning of this year are Benue and Rivers states.

    The two states have recorded gruesome killings of its citizen’s right from the New Year crossover night.

    While those killed in Rivers state were believed to have died from the activities of militants, the killings in Benue State were suspected to be done by killer herdsmen, an occupation most done by Fulanis.

    Even though other states like Kaduna, Taraba and Adamawa have also had their shares of gruesome killings in this New Year, the main focus of this write-up is on Benue State.

    Benue State, alone, has lost more than seventy-one of its citizens to the suspected killer herdsmen this year.

    The blame of the atrocities in Benue State is put at the doorstep of the Fulanis, who are mostly involved in cattle rearing from one location to the other.

    Series of similar attacks have taken place in various parts of the state as far back as the year 2013.

    The accusing fingers for the killings in the state have remained pointed in the direction of the herdsmen, who have opposed the newly introduced anti-grazing law in Benue state.

    Not a few Nigerians have expressed worries over the trend, as they have accused the Federal Government, especially under President Muhammadu Buhari, of handling the deadly attacks with kid gloves.

    To many of them, the Federal Government was turning a blind eye to the attacks in the state in the past two years of President Buhari’s government.

    Unlike what is happening in Benue State, they even pointed out that the Buhari’s Government does not hesitate to handle any other killings in any other parts of the country with the seriousness they deserve once the Fulani herdsmen are not the culprits.

    There have also been calls from some quarters for the killer herdsmen to be declared terrorist group, which is yet to be heeded.

    Some of those Nigerians have also attributed the attitude of the Federal security agencies to killings in Benue State to the fact that President Buhari is a Fulani man.

    They believed that by his actions or inactions, he was indirectly supporting his tribesmen.

    The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who could not hold back tears as a result of one of the recent killings, was reported also to have blamed the poor intervention of the Federal Security agencies for the onslaught.

    He was said to be particularly unhappy with the President’s silence over the matter.

    The governor’s position as reported, however, was different when he spoke with State House journalists at the Presidential Villa last week Tuesday.

    On allegations that he was blocked from seeing Mr. President on the issue, Ortom had said: “I have never accused anyone of blocking me from seeing Mr. President. I am seeing Mr. President. I told him when this incident occurred I spoke to Mr. President on phone and followed it up.

    “I know what it entails being a President, even as governor most times I am not with my phone, people cannot access me the way it used to be talkless of a President.

    “I didn’t say that and I have not said it. The truth is that I have access to Mr. President anytime I want, I speak to him on phone and I see him personally. I requested to speak to him on phone that day because I couldn’t come to Abuja and he gave me the opportunity and today I am here and I have seen him,” he said.

    A fact sheet issued by the President’s Media Office last Thursday night also exonerated President Buhari from other allegations.

    Titled ‘FACTSHEET: Federal Response to the Attacks and Killings by Herdsmen in Benue and other States’, it reads: “Background: Insinuations and allegations that the attacks and killings are happening because President Buhari is Fulani are both unkind and incorrect.

    “These attacks long predated the Buhari Government. In 2013 no fewer than nine cases of herdsmen attacks were recorded in Benue State alone, with more than 190 people killed. In 2014 there were no fewer than 16 recorded attacks, in Benue, which claimed more than 230 victims.

    “Between January and May 2015, six attacks left more than 300 people dead, again in Benue State alone.

    “This historical context is important for a proper understanding of the issue, and to avoid unnecessarily politicising what should be regarded and dealt with as acts of criminality.

    “These attacks have been a longstanding issue, and successive governments have struggled to contain the situation.

    “The Buhari Administration is more than fully committed to bringing the cycle of violence to an end, prosecuting the attackers, and preventing further killings and attacks.

    “The security agencies have standing instructions to arrest and prosecute any and all persons found with illegal arms.” it said

    Highlighting the Federal Interventions, it added: “The recent killings in Benue and Taraba States have elicited the following Federal responses:

    “President Buhari has met with the Governor of Benue State on the matter, to assure him of the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting farmers and communities.

    “President Buhari has directed the Inspector General of Police to relocate to Benue State.

    “On Monday January 8, 2018, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, convened a security meeting on the issue, bringing together Federal and State government officials: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Heads of security agencies, and the Governors of the most affected States: Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Taraba.

    “On Wednesday January 10, 2018, the IG held a Stakeholders engagement with the Benue State Government, elders, community, religious and traditional leaders etc.

    “Since the first week of January, immediately following the January 1 attacks, the Inspector General of Police has deployed the following to the affected areas:

    “Ten (10) Units of PMF, Police Special Forces, Counter Terrorism Units, Conventional Policemen, Police Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD), Special Police Joint Intelligence and Investigation Teams and Police Aerial Surveillance Teams (Police Helicopters).”

    It went on: “The Nigerian Army has deployed Special Forces to Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa States. In Benue State, eight (8) suspected herdsmen are in Police custody over the recent killings, and are currently being prosecuted.

    “The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is working to establish cattle colonies across the country, in 2018. These colonies will provide grass and water for the cattle and education and healthcare facilities for herders. They will also have Agro-Rangers deployed to secure the facilities,” it stated.

    Security and safety of the lives of all Nigerians, irrespective of where they originate from, should continue to be accorded top priority.

    The government agencies should also be seen to swiftly responding, at all times, to threats to life in any part of the country without any trace of partiality or bias.

    Everything should be done to separate and set aside politics from efforts to safeguard the nation.

     

  • Benue killings: Meeting with IGP postponed over governors, monarchs’ absence

    Benue killings: Meeting with IGP postponed over governors, monarchs’ absence

    The meeting between the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and key people from Benue and Nasarawa States slated for Monday did not hold due to absence of some critical stakeholders from the two states.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday met with key stakeholders in Benue State at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The meeting which was attended by the state governor, Sanuel Ortom and members of National and State Assemblies from the state was convened to address the current crisis in the state.

    The stakeholders’ absence forced the delegation from the two states to postpone the meeting slated for Force Headquarters in Abuja.

    The delegation from both states was led by the Secretary to the Benue State Government, Anthony Ijohor and his Nasarawa counterpart, Mohammed Abdullahi.

    Some traditional leaders and other stakeholders were also at the Force Headquarters for the meeting.

    Ijohor, who called for the postponement, argued that the matter cannot be resolved without the key stakeholders at the meeting.

    He said: “As a representative of my government, the truth is that we expected that this meeting would be high powered meeting.

    “For this kind of meeting, I expect that the two governors of the states and their deputies, members of the social- cultural organisations, Tor Tiv, Emir of Lafia and others will be in attendance so that these issues can be trashed.

    “It is not just enough for us to say we are talking peace when we have not adequately taken into consideration these people.  So, I am requesting that the meeting be shifted to a later date so that these people and other critical stakeholders will be in attendance.”

  • Updated: Buhari urges restraint in Benue

    Updated: Buhari urges restraint in Benue

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday urged the government and people of Benue State to exercise restraint following the recent attacks on some communities, assuring that all the perpetrators of violence in the state will be made to face the wrath of the law.

    Receiving a delegation of political leaders, traditional rulers and elders of the state led by Governor Samuel Ortom at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari said all those involved in the conflict that culminated in loss of lives would not escape justice, including any illegally armed militia in the state.

    The President, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, also commiserated with all the victims of the attacks and the families who lost loved ones and properties, noting that the government will make efforts to ameliorate the situation of all the victims.

    President Buhari said relevant agencies had been directed to start catering for the humanitarian needs.

    He said: “Your Excellency, the governor, and all the leaders here, I am appealing to you to try to restrain your people. I assure you that the police, the Department of State Service (DSS) and other security agencies had been directed to ensure that all those behind the mayhem get punished.

    “I ask you in the name of God to accommodate your country men. You can also be assured that I am just as worried, and concerned with the situation.”

    The President told the delegation that his administration had already begun a process of finding lasting solution to the perennial challenge of herdsmen conflict with farmers and communities around the country.

    President Buhari said the Inspector General of Police had been directed to relocate to the state to provide security for lives and properties, urging all Benue indigenes to trust the security agencies and report all suspicious movements in the state.

    In his remarks, Governor Ortom said the tension would be reduced with the Federal Government’s determination to find a lasting solution to the herdsmen attacks.

    “We will leave here to rebuild confidence in our people,’’ he said.

    The Tor-Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, said his entire domain had been thrown into mourning due to the incessant attacks.

    “We want you to put an end to the gruesome situation,’’ he added.

    Present at the meeting were Benue State Deputy Governor, Benson Abounu, former Senate President, David Mark, former Benue State Governor, George Akume and Sen. Barnabas Gemade.

    Others were – Sen. Joseph Waku, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (retd), Brig. Gen. John Atom Kpera (retd), former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbir Kyambe, and other members of the National and State Assemblies from the state.

     

     

     

  • Ortom lied on Benue killings – Osinbajo

    Ortom lied on Benue killings – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Monday expressed shock at claim by Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, that he (Osinbajo) was warned ahead of the January 1 killings in the state.

    In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, Osinbajo described as “a terrible falsehood” claim that he was never informed by the governor or anyone else about the killings.

    The statement reads: “Governor Ortom wrote to the Vice President, then Acting President on 7th June 2017 protesting a newspaper publication where the leadership of Miyetti Allah was reported to have stated that it was opposed to the open grazing prohibition law of the state and that they would mobilise to resist the law.

    “The Miyetti Allah had written to the Vice President on the 5th of June 2017 on the same law protesting several sections of the law.

    “The governor went on to say that the leadership of Miyetti Allah should be arrested because they used words such as ‘wicked, obnoxious and repressive,’ to describe the law, and because these were ‘utterances that are capable of undermining the peace.

    “The Vice President subsequently met with the governor, discussed the matter and the security situation in the state and then ordered law enforcement agencies to be on the alert to prevent any attacks or violence. This was in June 2017.”

    The statement noted that in the said letter written by the governor, there was no mention of any threat to any specific one of the 23 local governments of the state.

    It said the best the law enforcement agencies could do then was to await information or intelligence of an imminent attack and none of such came.