Protesters under the aegis of Vanguard Against Tiv Massacre (VATIM) on Thursday thronged the National Assembly main entrance demanding immediate vacation of Benue by herdsmen.
The protesters, who arrived at the National Assembly gate at about 9 a.m., barricaded the area and disrupted vehicular traffic in and out of the complex.
The protesters, numbering more than 100, chanted songs calling on the legislature to intervene in the matter.
They carried placards which bore “our ancestral homes are not cattle grazing routes, stop the killing in Benue State’’ and “Nigeria risks famine if farmlands are not made safe for our people’’, among others.
Spokesman of the group, Mr Frank Utoo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that incessant killing of farmers had adversely affected farming activities in the state.
Utoo said that in spite of the fact that it was farming season, farmers were not ready to return to the farms for fear of being attacked.
He called on the National Assembly to pass a bill that would make it mandatory for herdsmen to own ranches across the country.
According to him, cattle should not to be reared on arable farmland but restricted to ranches so as to avoid grazing on farmlands.
Utoo said that no fewer than 30 lives had been lost in the most recent herdsmen attack in Buruku Local Government Area of the state.
“The aged, women and children were mostly the victims of the massacre unleashed by the herdsmen in the area.
“It was unfortunate that the defenceless are the major targets of the hoodlums,’’ he said.
A leader of the protesters, Mr Tersoo Akula, said the killings had been going on for the past 12 years and accused the government of “paying lip service’’ to the problem.
“Every year, we come here and we hear empty promises.
“We want to say that we are completely not satisfied with the response of the government as far as herdsmen and farmers’ crisis in Benue is concerned.
“There seems to be a classical agenda to wipe out the Benue race but our message is that `it is not possible’.
“The fact that we have not taken arms or formed a militia front to address these herdsmen is not an act of weakness,’’ Akula said.
Sen. George Sekibo (PDP-Rivers), who addressed the protesters on behalf of President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said the red chamber was aware of the harassment of locals by herdsmen.
Sekibo told them that the National Assembly was working toward a lasting solution to the problem.
He said that about three motions had been raised in relation to the activities of herdsmen in the state and other parts of the country, adding that the upper chamber was not resting on its oars.
“The Senate is standing by you. We shall do everything within the limits of the law to ensure these herdsmen are taken to particular area where they can feed their cattle,” the lawmaker said. (NAN)
