The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Benue

  • 145 arrested over herdsmen/farmers clashes

    A Presidency source late Sunday night confirmed that at least 145 suspects have since been arrested by the Nigeria Police following herdsmen/farmers clashes in some parts of the country, including Benue, Kaduna and Nasarawa states.

    The arrests occurred between January 2016 and January 2018.

    President Muhammadu Buhari who had given instructions to security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the violence, has been visiting some of the troubled spots and is expected in Benue State.

    The source, who does not want his name in prints, also revealed that out of the number, 124 have been charged to court, while 21 suspects are under investigation and waiting to be charged to court.

    He said “So far, 106 suspects have been arrested and charged to court for prosecution on the following offences; criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance of public peace, assault and mischief.”

    It would be recalled that recently, on March 5, at least 24 persons were killed and 20 others feared missing in two communities in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State following fresh attacks by suspected herdsmen.

    Read Also: How to end herdsmen, farmers clashes, by Obasanjo

    “Early in the year, three suspects with Ak-47 rifles were apprehended by the Police Intelligence Team in Benue, nine members of untrained Civilian JTF/Livestock guards with prohibited firearms were arrested by the military in Arufa, a boundary town between Benue and Taraba with five AK-47 rifles who confessed that they were employed as Livestock guards by a state government on a N150,000 monthly salary.

    “Similarly, 16 suspects were arrested in Gboko LGA and investigations are ongoing, while several members of armed militia and unknown gunmen were killed or apprehended by the police.

    “Other arrests made include that of 6 suspects on January 1, 2018 following the police response to the killings in Akor Village in Guma LGA on December 31, 2017.

    “Exhibits recovered from the suspect include 3 cutlasses, charms and other items. All the suspects were charged to court for culpable homicide. Concerted efforts are being made by the police to apprehend all culprits in the conflict,” the source said.’

    The Nigerian Police, he noted, have had their fair share of attacks while trying to fish out the culprits.

    Quoting a police source, he said “On January 25 this year, two visiting Police Mobile Force (PMF) from 20 and 32 led by their respective unit commanders were ambushed by a group suspected to be pastoralists while they were on patrol at Sati village in Guma LGA of Benue State.

    “During the ambush, one inspector Abdullahi Isiaka was shot and wounded, while one Sergeant Solomon Dung was reported missing.

    “We are doing our job diligently to ensure safety of lives and property in these flashpoint areas. So it is unfair when some people say we are being partial in how we are handling the conflict,” the police source said.

    The Presidency source said that further findings reveal that the Police has lost serval of its officers, while one is still missing in action in the course on restoring peace in the state.

    “About 30 of or colleagues have been killed in the line of duty, while Sergeant Dung is still missing in action,” the source said.

    He said that the disbandment and disarming of the livestock guards and militia groups in the state are ongoing so as to forestall further violence.

    “Early in the year, the IGP team commenced an on-the-spot assessment of situations in Benue with a visit to the flashpoints of the crisis, places such as Logo and Guma LGAs in Benue and Tunga in Awe LGA in Nasarawa State.

    “Security analysts say that one of the root causes of the crisis in Benue has been the implementation of the Anti-Open grazing law by the state government.

    “On January 4, the IGP met with Benue State governor and the state’s religious leaders, traditional rulers, CSOs, and other stakeholders, where the open grazing and establishment of ranches were mooted.”

    It would be recalled that following several clashes between herdsmen and farmers in some parts of the country, the Federal Government deployed mobile police forces, the army and Air Force to troubled areas.

    Security has also reportedly been beefed up in affected communities in Benue State and in other states affected by herdsmen/farmers clashes.

    To support the Police in restoring peace, he said that Army formations and units in Benue State are maintaining Forward Operating Bases in flash areas covering Guma, Logo, Katsina-Ala and Agatu Local Government Areas of Benue state in an operation nicknamed Operation Zenda.

    “In the same vein, the Nigerian Army recently deployed troops flashpoints in Nasarawa State, to forestall further attacks in routes where armed herdsmen reportedly use to attack communities in Benue State.

    “Also, recently, the Nigerian Army kicked off Exercise AYEM AKPATUMA, to checkmate the activities of armed bandits and militias in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa and its environs.” he said

     

  • Benue shifts mass burial of herdsmen massacre

    Benue shifts mass burial of herdsmen massacre

    Benue State Government has shifted the date for the  planned mass burial for victims of Fulani herdsmen attack in Okpokwu.

    The government had promised to accord all the 24 victims of the Omusu Edimoga herdsmen attack a mass burial on Friday .

    Governor Samuel Ortom made the announcement for the burial during his visit to  Edumoga, in Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state, where 24 people were killed by suspected herdsmen.

    Twenty four persons were said to have been killed during the attack which left many people injured and several persons missing.

    In a press statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, the governor said, “There wouldn’t be mass burial of victims of Fulani herdsmen attacks in Okpokwu.”

    No reason was given for the cancellation of the mass burial

    The statement added that the burial will now take place next Thursday.

    According to the statement, “A church service, followed by burial of the victims, will take place on Thursday, next week at Okpokwu.”

    Meanwhile,  Ortom has announced that President Muhammad Buhari will be visiting the state on Monday.

  • Buhari to visit Benue on Monday

    Buhari to visit Benue on Monday

    President Muhammadu Buhari will visit Benue State on Monday to commiserate with the people over the herdsmen attacks, Governor Samuel Ortom said yesterday.

    The governor added that three herdsmen had been convicted for violating the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.

    Ortom, who spoke during a meeting of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said over 100 herdsmen had been arrested for contravening the law. He added that security agencies have also promised to help enforce implementation of the ranching law.

    According to Ortom, Fulani herdsmen causing problems  were enemies of the APC and Nigerians. He called for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and others Fulani groups for their inflammatory statements.

    State APC Chairman Abba Yaro pledged the party’s continued support for the Ortom-led administration, saying his resilience and steadfastness in the wake of attacks was laudable.

    Ortom said herdsmen attacks on the state poses a big threat to food security.

    He spoke at the Government House in Makurdi when the presidential committee on rehabilitation of communities affected by farmers/herdsmen crisis visited him.

    Ortom lamented that renewed attacks on Benue communities came at a time farmers were harvesting, and so crop seeds were used as feed for cattle after invading and displacing farmers.

    The governor worried that people were still in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps when land preparation for the next cropping season was approaching. He described it as a sign of famine.

    The governor, who urged the committee to amplify the need for ranching as the best method of animal husbandry, described happenings in the state as an “invasion of occupation and not grazing” as alleged in some quarters.

    He wondered which hate speech could be worse than issuing threats of attacks and executing same.

    Leader of the delegation and Director of Relief and Rehabilitation of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Kayode Fagbemi, said they were in the state to carry out an assessment of damages in communities with a view to rebuilding them.

     

  • FG to complete Loko-Oweto Bridge in November

    The Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing has assured that the 2.2-kilometre Loko-Oweto bridge across the river Benue linking Nasarawa and Benue would  be completed by November.

    The Federal Controller of Works in Nasarawa State, Mr Wasiu Taiwo,  disclosed this to newsmen in Lafia on Thursday.

    Our reporter,  reports that officials of the Federal Ministry of Works, on the instruction of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had embarked on a media tour of ongoing projects in Nasarawa State on Wednesday.

    Taiwo said the completion of the bridge would create a shortcut for people  travelling from Abuja to the South Eastern part of the country.

    “I want to assure that the Federal Government is fully committed to completion of this project at the set date.

    “There are a lot of benefits that come with the completion and one is the option of going to the South East through here. The journey is three hours less from here,” he said.

    Read Also: 2017: Still a long walk home

    He said that the contract for the construction of the bridge was awarded at an initial sum of N36 billion with a revised sum of N51 billion.

    Taiwo also said that the 82-kilometre Nasarawa-Loko road,  linking the bridge to both states, would be completed by September to facilitate movement.

    “I want to assure that this particular bridge and the Nasarawa-Loko road are very important projects to the Federal Government. Our target is November and we hope by then, it will be ready for use,“he said.

    The controller said that the work was 85 per cent completed and assured that with the rate of work so far, the contractor was likely to complete it on or before Nov.29.

    NAN

  • FRSC seeks media collaboration in enforcing traffic regulations

    FRSC seeks media collaboration in enforcing traffic regulations

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has called for a strong tie between it and the media in enforcing traffic rules and regulations in the country.

    Mr Peter Kino, the Zonal Commanding Officer in charge of Jos zone, made the call at a press briefing on Tuesday in Jos.

    Kibo, who just assumed duty as the new zonal commanding officer, urged media organisations in the zone to support its course.

    Read Also: FRSC to embark on “Operation Show Your Driver’s Licence’’ in Lagos

    He said enlightenment was a cardinal function of the corps hence the need for the media to key into its mandate of public education for safer highways across the country.

    “Public education is key to our bid to ensure safer highways in the country. As an organisation, we can’t do it alone; so, we need stronger partnership with the media to achieve our goals.

    “So, I am calling on all media organisations, particularly those in the states under my control to support and collaborate with us to succeed in making our highways safe,” he said.

    Our reporters,  reports that the Jos zonal command comprises Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau.

    NAN

     

  • Killings: I have my way of gathering intelligence – Buhari

    Killings: I have my way of gathering intelligence – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari Monday appealed to all Nigerians to embrace peace and live together with one another in harmony so that “there could be meaningful development and not destruction.”
    Buhari spoke in Jalingo -the Taraba State capital during a visit in the crisis-ridden State to console families who lost their loved ones and properties in waves of attacks.
    The president said he has a way of getting intelligence on happenings across the country, so he should not be expected to always go out to war fields to make noise and insult the sensibility of Nigerians before it would be known that he was taking actions against killings and insecurity.
    He was accompanied to Taraba by the ministers of Women Affairs, Defense, Information and Culture, member sof the National Assembly from Taraba and other Service Chiefs.
    He was received by Governor Darius Ishaku, in company of the Speaker of the state Assembly and other top government functionaries, before having an interface with stakeholders from the crisis areas in Government House.
    Buhari said he had chosen to visit Taraba first, before visiting Benue and Zamfara states, after his trip to Ghana, to also condole with the people of those states over their lost ones.
    He noted there were more killings in Taraba, Benue and Zamfara than other places.
    “I am here (Taraba) to meet with the leadership of the state, to offer my condolences to those who lost loved ones and properties in violence.
    “People, sometime, expect me to rush out to the fields, to go and make noise.
    “But I have my ways of gathering intelligence. I get to know what is happening across the country without necessarily going to those areas.
    “I will be going to Benue and Zamfara after I return from Ghana, to also condole with the people,” Buhari said.
    He called on traditional rulers in the state to step up activities in their various Chiefdoms to foster peaceful coexistence among their subjects and to remain vigilante at all times.
    Governor Darius Ishaku said the state was delighted to welcome the President in its trying time.
    The governor noted that Taraba state was a “mini Nigeria” as it has over 80 tribes and three religions to handle. “It is not easy to always balance things up here.”
    Ishaku said the state was  contending with a different specie and breed of herdsmen who are militias moving around with AK 47 riffles to remove anything in their way, unlike the known herdsmen who had cohabited with the people for decades without any serious skirmishes.
    “The problem is never between the locals. Both the local Fulani and other tribes blend without issues.
    “We have a new breed and specie of herdsmen militias who move around with sophisticated weapons; they are poised to remove anything in their track.
    “They must be arrested now before it degenerates to something we can not contend with”, Ishaku said.
    Opinion leaders from the warring tribes insisted justice and fairness must be seen taking course and the rule of law allowed to prevail for peace to return.

    Read Also:Buhari to visit Taraba, Benue, Yobe, two others

  • Buhari’s planned visit to Benue, Taraba, others an afterthought – PDP

    Buhari’s planned visit to Benue, Taraba, others an afterthought – PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Mohammadu Buhari’s plan to visit Benue, Taraba and other states where Nigerians were killed by insurgents and Fulani herdsmen as an afterthought.

    A statement on Monday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan also said the planned visit was a fresh device to further hoodwink the people ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    The statement said, “It is alarming that Mr. President will consider visiting some of these states months after marauders, insurgents and bandits committed their havocs.

    “Mr. President has been in the country and never thought it necessary to pay a condolence visit to any of these states until Nigerians raised the alarm alleging a manifest indifference on his part.

    “It is even more pathetic that in Benue state, President Buhari summoned the leaders of the bereaved people to the Presidential villa, Abuja, rather than complying with the age-long tradition of Africans by visiting the bereaved.

    “No wonder many Nigerians have dismissed the planned visit of President Buhari to these states as cosmetic afterthought. Nigerians have already formed their opinion of him, and rightly so, as a President that has never shown them concern in their time of need”.

    Read Also:Buhari to visit Taraba, Benue, Yobe, two others

  • Three children, two others die in Benue IDP camps

    Three children, two others die in Benue IDP camps

    Five persons, including three children, have died at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Benue State.

    Governor Samuel Ortom stated this at the weekend when the National Commission For Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI) visited the state to distribute relief items for IDPs.

    Ortom said two of the five deceased were crushed by a truck while crossing the busy highway around the location of the Abegana camp.

    He lamented they ran away from their homes but met with death in a place where they should find succour.

    The Federal Commissioner of NCRMI, Sadiya Farouq, said the items were commitment to the agency’s ongoing interventions of IDPs.

    Represented by Charles Anaelo, the commissioner noted that the NCFRMI was aware of the influx of over 10, 000 Cameroonian migrants in Kwande local government area.

    He disclosed the commission in collaboration with the United Nation High Commission for the Refugees (UNHCR) is conducting data registration of all the victims for further necessary actions.

     

  • Living conditions in IDPs camps deplorable, unbearable – Ortom

    Living conditions in IDPs camps deplorable, unbearable – Ortom

    Gov Samuel Ortom has decried the ‘deplorable conditions’ of the camps hosting people displaced by the incessant attacks on Benue rural communities, and called for urgent measures to address the situation.

    “The camps are terrible; the living conditions there are nauseating. Something urgent must be done to assist the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),” Ortom said on Thursday.

    Ortom spoke in Makurdi when he received members of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation, led by is chairman, Babangda Aliyu, at the Banquet hall of the Benue People’s House, Makurdi.

    He said that 60 per cent of the IDPs were children who had missed examinations and did not know when to return to school.

    ” The facilities at the camps are inadequate and too deplorable to provide minimum comfort for these children.

    “The attacks keep going on and more people are fleeing their homes and taking refuge in the camps, making them overcrowded.

    “In spite of the presence of “Exercise Cat Race”, herders are still killing and displacing local farmers from their ancestral homes.

    “The Benue people are law abiding and have refrained from resorting to violence even at the height of provocation, but we cannot continue like this,” he said.

    He called on members of the foundation to appeal to the federal government to pursue justice for his people.

    “All we ask of the federal government is justice, the rule of law and an end to impunity. We have suffered too much in the hands of the herders who carry out these attacks against our people with impunity.

    ” Between 2012 and 2018, we have had 47 attacks on Benue communities. Lives and property worth millions have been lost, but in spite of these attacks, we have remained law abiding.”

    He said it was difficult to revive grazing routes, and called on herdsmen in the state to obey the anti-open grazing law.

    Also speaking, Ortom’s predecessor and deputy chairman of the foundation, Gabriel Suswam, commended the people for supporting their governor on the law, and assured them that the foundation would relay their message to the government.

    He assured Ortom of his support toward achieving peace in the state.

    “I will work with Gov Ortom towards achieving peace in the state; our party differences will not affect this commitment.

    “It was the Tor Tiv that ordered me to work with the governor to ensure peace in the state. As someone who has received so much from the state, I have to obey.”

    Suswam appealed to the federal government to work out modalities toward halting the influx of foreign herders in the country.

    “The killings in the country seem to get worse everyday. Government must rise to this challenge,” he said. (NAN)

  • Owoseni denies withdrawal of Special Forces from Benue

    Owoseni denies withdrawal of Special Forces from Benue

    The Benue State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, has debunked reports that the Special Forces had been withdrawn from the state.

    The social media was awash with news of withdrawal of the Special Forces deployed last month by the Inspector-General of Police (IG) Ibrahim Idris, following farmers/herdsmen clashes in parts of the state.

    But Owoseni said the joint operation, headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Josak Habila, was still active in the state, adding that the IG has continued to reinforce same.

    He said: “It is not true that the Special Forces have been withdrawn from the theatre of operation in Benue State. Rather, the Inspector General of Police has continued to reinforce the command with personnel and material resources as it becomes operationally expedient.

    “With the reinforcement, the command has been able to increase its visibility in the state. This is aimed at encouraging speedy return of displaced persons to their communities.

    “While the situation is relatively calm, the police will continue to partner well meaning members of the society and sister security agencies to ensure security of life and property.”