Sordid tales of the 2001 Zaki Biam, Benue State invasion by soldiers were relived yerterday at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Some victims told reporters what they went through in the soldiers’ hands, at a briefing on the court premises moderated by their lead counsel, Sobastine Hon (SAN).
Andrew Juntu, 35, said his genitals were chopped off and acid poured inside his anus by the soldiers. He has no wife and children.
He said his wife was spared by the soldiers because he lied that he was an Igbo man and not a Tiv. He could only pass urine through a tube inserted in his body.
“Another woman also had her private part scraped off and her hands yanked off by the soldiers,” Hon said yesterday.
Federal High Court ordered the Federal government to pay Zaki Biam N41.8 billion compensation following a suit filed by 14 of the victims. The government has yet to pay the judgment sum.
The victims has rejected the government’s plea to pay N8 billion instead of the N41.8 billion judgment sum in order to settle the matter amicably. They are protesting that the state government cannot negotiate on their behalf.
In an interview after the press briefing, Juntu said: “People came out to see the soldiers because we thought they were sent by the Feral Government to come and make peace. Immediately people came out, the soldiers attacked us. They poured petrol on some and burnt them alive while others were shot. We were about 80 people. They cut my private part, they cut my anus and put acid. They used knife to cut me and even shot my leg.
“Since 2007 that we got the judgment, nothing has been done. We are hearing that they want to pay Benue Government N8 billion which we know nothing about. I don’t have money, I don’t have a child. If government compensates us, I can go to the hospital to treat myself. I’m a dead man, I can’t do anything; I can’t follow a woman, I can’t work. I can call myself a dead man. Actually, I’m a dead man. For 12 years, I can’t eat strong food. My food is tea and yoghurt. If I take anything strong, if I go to the toilet, you will see blood everywhere because the muscle is not strong and I don’t have money to go to the hospital. I’m dying in my house even to get food it takes time.”
On how he has been treating himself, Juntu broke down in tears, saying: “Oh, my friend, I don’t want to cry. I’m a dead man because I’m rotting silently but I know God will hear my prayer and save me.
“They killed all the people. I survived because I lied to them that I was an Ibo man. They killed all the Tivs because they said they were animals. This happened in 2001. Although I survived the attack, I’m a dead man alive. I have no wife or children.
“Pointing to his manhood, they have killed me alive by cutting off my genital organ. I can’t marry or have children. I can’t even urinate like a normal man. I can only do this through the tube passed into my body.”
Hon said the government and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) were yet to reply the letters sent to them on the victims’ plight.
He said: “Over 14,000 people were directly affected by the genocide of 2001. Over 1000 of these were fatalities. Hundreds of women and children have been widowed and orphaned by the senseless killing spree of the trigger-happy men and officers of the Nigerian Army, who mowed down their husbands and fathers in cold blood!
“I, therefore, respectfully call on the President as the father of the nation to direct all relevant agencies of the Federal Government to, as a matter of utmost urgency, satisfy to the hilt the judgment debt of N41.8 billion. This will not only right the wrongs of the Army, but also reassure the Tiv people that they are also bona fide Nigerians.”
Mr. Isaac Aoughakaa, who came with his wife, Elizabeth, also recalled how soldiers killed two of his children and also chopped off his wife’s hands.
“We had eight children by then but soldiers killed two in the attack on my family. They came in around 5:30 so we were inside our rooms. They came, surrounded the house and started shooting sporadically so my wife had to run out with the children to escape the onslaught. The soldiers ran after them and killed two of them and macheted my wife. In fact it was God that saved my life. I saw them killing my family but could not do anything than to escape; so, I ran away. They were pursuing me like a wild animal but God rescued me. We were in the hospital in Makurdi for six months before they discharged us.”
Asked how his wife had been coping without hands, Mr. Aoughakaa, who fought back tears, said: “I’m the person feeding her. When she wants to bath, I bath her. When she wants to go to the toilet, I assist her. I do everything she needs to do with her hands for her”.
Anongu Orngu, 45, farmer, went to the farm with his parents and that saved her life. Although he narrowly escaped death, his parents were killed. Orngu lost his limbs. Today, he has only two fingers left.
“I have been at the mercy of sympathisers. I have three children but do not have any source of livelihood to train them. My children are at home; they can’t go to school. I was a hard working farmer before the invasion but see the pains they have caused me and my family”, he said.
When the soldiers came, Peter Orngu, 30, a former student, was caught unawares.
He said: “I tried to escape. They started shooting sporadically. Before the incident, I was a student of the Federal College of Education, Katsina-Ala. I could not complete my studies because of the disability I suffered from the attack. I rely on people around me and sympathisers. My mother became hypertensive because of my situation and died. My father had died before the invasion.”
The Federal Government had earlier approached a Court of Appeal to reverse the high court order but withdrew the appeal and opted to settle out of court.
Hon is accusing the government of insincerity on the out-of-court settlement bid because of its failure to sit at a roundtable with the victims to resolve the judgment debt.
Wondering where the idea of N8 billion settlement came from, Hon said the losses incurred by the victims especially children whose parents and dependants were either killed or maimed cannot be quantified in any amount.
He said: “Rather than comply with the terms of the judgment, the government asked for time to settle the matter out of court, which was obliged by my clients and other parties in the suit, who had no cause to doubt the sincerity of the government.
“However, when my first letter reached the President and the eagle-eyed Nigeria press scooped it, media reports started springing up that the Federal Government had settled with the Benue State Government to pay the sum of N8 billion which will be full satisfaction of the judgment debt!
“I hereby state categorically that whatever settlement the Federal Government and the Benue State have reached is not binding on my clients, who reject same without the slightest equivocation”.
“My clients were neither consulted nor did they consent to the terms of that so-called settlement; hence reject it in its entirety. The intentions and actions of the Benue State Government, which we concede may have been for good purposes, are with respect not binding on my clients”.
