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Tag: Guma

  • Observers urge INEC to declare Jime, winner of Benue Guber Polls

    The Coalition of Election Observers in Benue State has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to forthwith announce Emmanuel Jime, the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as winner.
    Like in six other states, INEC had declared the polls in Benue inconclusive, alleging that 121,011 electorates were either not able to vote or election did not hold in their areas.
    However, in a statement by Convener Princess Ajibola on Saturday, the election observers urged INEC to  adhere to the constitution and declare the APC flagbearer winner having picked up the highest number of votes in areas where card reader machines were used for accreditation.
    The group of observers, who thoroughly monitored the exercise asserted that the incumbent and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Ortom, connived with some INEC officials to deliberately sabotage the entire process in his favour.
    According to the observers, “ It is no coincidence that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Samuel Ortom, only scored high votes in places where Card Readers were deliberately sabotaged by his agents to force electoral officers to resort to manual accreditation. In course of our observation, we documented that Card Readers were not used in Logo, Guma, Vandekiya, Konshisha, Buruku and Gwer West Local Government Areas.
    “ The manual accreditation gave room to vote manipulation in the identified local government areas. Incidents documented included over voting, accreditation of people that are not registered voters, ballot stuffing amongst others. These incidents do not in any way form part of what INEC had promised when it announced its determination to conduct acceptable elections and they certainly do not indicate credible elections in any part of the world.
    “ The knowledge on the part of other candidates that violations occurred on this scale is reasons for the election results so far announced are being met with rejection. The results have become controversial and are now a subject of protests by many candidates and observers.
    “ Public anger will continue to grow for as long as INEC continues to delay in declaring a rejection of results from locations where Card Readers were not used. This is because INEC had issued a guideline that specifically directed that the use of card reader machine must be complied with.
    “ In a bizarre development, the PDP candidate has connived with some INEC officials in Benue state to rig the elections through the failure to use Card Readers and is now parading himself as the winner of the election while citing some outrageous votes.

    Read Also:Rivers APC lashes INEC over comment on military

    “ The rigging is so brazen that the leading APC candidate was allocated zero votes in places where it had large turnout of its supporters and polling agents, which would suggest that even the agents were not allowed to vote.
    “ We see the case in Benue State as test for INEC that it can take electoral decisions that will ensure that every vote it organized do not end up being tabled before Election Petition Tribunals for adjudication. The Commission must begin to put an end to the practice of deprived winners being asked to go to court to reclaim their victories. INEC should therefore cancel the results from local government areas where Card Readers were not used and declare the Emmanuel Jime/Sam Ode ticket as winner.
    “ We urge the international community to keep close watch of the development in Benue state so that the world will know what truly transpired in the state since it will become necessary to make interventions at some point based on the way the electorates will likely respond to their votes being stolen.”
  • Benue attacks: Shot livestock guard loses 4 wives, 18 children

    Benue attacks: Shot livestock guard loses 4 wives, 18 children

    Mr Akpenheen Amile, a Livestock Guard, who is being treated of gunshots sustained in the Jan. 2 attack on villages in Guma, Benue State, says he is yet to establish contact with his four wives and 18 children.

    “I am in physical pains from gunshot injuries, but such pains don’t hurt me like the inability to ascertain the fate of my four wives and 18 children,” Amile told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Makurdi.

    NAN reports that five villages in Guma and Logo Local Governments were attacked by unknown gunmen on Jan. 1 and 2.

    According to the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), 73 people have so far been confirmed killed by the invaders.

    Amile, who is married to five wives, told NAN that only his fifth wife was with him.

    The livestock guard, who is being treated at the Benue State Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), said that he was shot on one of his legs.

    “I am physically in pains, but I am more worried about the psychological pains caused by the disconnection with my family.

    “As it is, I don’t know whether they are among the dead or they have fled to some unknown destination for safety,” he said.

    Amile, who claimed that the attackers were dressed in herdsmen attire, said that they arrived “around 5 p.m. and started shooting anyone on sight”.

    Speaking through an interpreter, Amile said that he was with other Livestock Guards employed by the Benue Government to enforce the anti-open grazing law, when the gunmen descended on them.

    “We were at our camp at a primary school at Iwer, in Guma, when the gunmen surrounded us and started shooting.

    “It was while I was running for safety that I was shot on the leg. We had to flee because we were not armed. Besides, we were taken by surprise.

    “They killed many Livestock Guards and many of us were wounded.

    “Since the attack, I have not heard from my four wives and 18 children. Only my fifth wife is here with me. This is causing me sleepless nights; the situation is unbearable,” he said.

  • ‘Killings still going on in Benue’

    ‘Killings still going on in Benue’

    A group, Community Development Coalition (CDC), has raised the alarm that Fulani herdsmen are still carrying out killings in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State.

    The atrocities, they said were occurring despite the deployment of police operatives and the relocation of the Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, to the state.

    The CDC Convener, Prof. Yima Sen, told journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, that he had visited the affected communities and was informed that the violent attacks by the herdsmen had not abated.

    Sen expressed dissatisfaction with the security situation, noting that the security forces on the ground have been unable to stop the bloodshed across the state.

    “I left the crisis area about 5 hours ago and from my consultations with the people, killings are still going on; am not satisfied, if I tell you that am satisfied with the security situation, I would be lying. I have also consulted with the people and they are not satisfied with the situation,” he stated.

    The CDC vowed to do all that is legally and humanly possible to ensure the full implementation of the Benue state anti-open grazing prohibition law.

    It said it would also facilitate “the emergence of a robust, reliable and sustainable community-driven defence and security system.”

    The group rejected the proposed cattle colonies for herdsmen by the Federal Government, insisting that no inch of Benue land would be given out to the herdsmen.

    Sen said, “We can’t be colonized by the Fulanis, they can ranch, but if anyone is talking about cattle colonies, they should find another location, not Benue.”

    He highlighted the benefits of ranching, which he said would increase productivity and guarantee safety of the animals and the herdsmen, describing it as a civilized way of keeping livestock.

    The CDC Convener accused President Muhammadu Buhari of turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the herdsmen.

    He said, “We are left with no option than to conclude that the President, who by the way, is the grand patron of Miyetti Allah, has turned a blind eye and is bent on keeping deaf ears, to these atrocities, or that he is actively involved in this diabolical and outrageous scheme.”

  • Benue Attack: Humanitarian crises overwhelm Guma LGA

    Benue Attack: Humanitarian crises overwhelm Guma LGA

    The Chairman, Guma Local Government Area, Mr Anthony Shawon, said the invasion of some villages in the council area has left a huge humanitarian and environmental crises that needed urgent intervention.

    Shawon said on Monday in Makurdi that the herders, who invaded Saav, Mbadyen and Uvir villages on January 1, had retreated to the forest of Dogon Yashi, stretching from Guma to Logo on the banks of river Benue, covering over 57km long.

    Shawon, who lamented the destruction of crops, farms and houses by the invaders, said survivors of the invasion had left their ancestral homes and were looking for shelter in nearby towns.

    He said the state government had approved the setting up of camps for the displaced persons but regretted that the few already established were overcrowded by the Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPs ).

    Read also: Support Open Grazing Prohibition law, Benue Reps beg Buhari

    “The camps at Guma and Gbajimba are overcrowded, but the Benue State Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA ) is already handling the situation because as a local government, the scale is beyond us.”

    He regretted that the invaders, who were hiding in the Dogon Yashi forest, were still attacking villages, burning down houses and destroying crops.

    Shawon said the attackers were still destroying crops kept in farms such as soya beans, yams, guinea corn and rice.

    “They are openly grazing on farms after which they set them on fire,” he alleged.

    The chairman, however, commended the men of the Nigerian Army for their quick intervention in quelling the crisis.

    He appealed to the army to enter into the forest and dislodge the herders there.

    He accused the Kabawa community in Guma of ferrying food to herdsmen in the forest in exchange for cattle.

    Shawon, however, disclosed that the Kabawa people who carried food to the herders had been arrested by the police in Abinsi.

    He, however, regretted that the herdsmen were still carrying out open grazing in spite of the anti open grazing law on an open stretch of land from Mbagwen to Lokobi in the Local Government Area.

    According to him, that place is still open for invasion as the herdsmen are still doing open grazing there.

    Meanwhile, Gov. Samuel Ortom has set aside Thursday, January 11 for the mass burial of the 71 victims of the invasion while Tuesday and Wednesday had been declared days of mourning.

    The flag will fly at half mast while government offices will close at 1 p.m.

    NAN