Community leaders and survivors of the fresh attacks in Benue State have narrated their ordeal since gunmen renewed attacks in 19 of the 23 local government areas in the state.
The survivors said they live in perpetual fear because they do not know when next the rampaging armed herders would strike.
Some of them, who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday, claimed that 489 members of their communities have been killed in the last one month.
They said most of the victims were farmers whose houses and yam barns were burnt by the invaders.
According to them, most of the attacks occurred at midnight and at the wee hours of the day.
Apart from the 489 victims already established, decomposing bodies and skeletons of the hapless farmers who were killed while fleeing their homes are still being recovered by young men who are searching for their missing relatives.
During the recent visit of the national security adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to the state, a community leader and the Ter Tyoshin in Gwer West local government area, His Royal Highness Daniel Abomtse, said from 2011 to date when the attacks started, over 598 persons have been killed by armed herdsmen, who also took over their houses.
He said, “As a displaced monarch, all the 15 districts under my watch have been ransacked; all of us are now taking refuge in Naka town, the council headquarters, and we only depend on what the governor sends to us as palliatives. However, we believe that your coming here, as you said, will not be in vain.
“We want to commend the president for your visit and one thing you must take back to him is to tell the president the need to strengthen the 2017 Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, which is still in place, so that anyone coming into the state with cattle to graze must abide by its provisions,” Abomtse said.
Similarly, the Ter Ukum, Iyokyaa Kaave, whose community was attacked on Good Friday, said that for the past 15 years, the Sankera axis comprising Katsina/Ala, Ukum, and Logo, which is the hub of agriculture in the state, especially yam production, has been under siege.
Kaave said, “My subjects have stopped farming, our children are no longer going to school because the armed herdsmen have destroyed all the schools, hospitals, and markets. The highest revenue yielding LG in the state is completely crippled. Our economy has gone down to zero; we have become beggars in our father’s land, and our wives are giving birth to dwarfs because of malnutrition.”
A survivor, Ternenge Shima, from Gwer West LGA, alleged that the security personnel deployed to the affected communities were making brisk business from assisting buoyant residents in need of security escort to bury their dead.
He said the fee ranges from N50,000 depending on the distance of the burial ceremony.
The youth leader of Mbaikyor, Igbawua Gandepun, told our correspondent that economic activities, especially farming, had been crippled in Turan Community which comprises five council wards.
Gandepun, who called for the withdrawal of security personnel stationed at Government Secondary School, Anwase, alleged that they were raping women and young girls as well as extorting farmers, motorists, and commercial motorcycle riders.
When LEADERSHIP Sunday attempted to reach officials of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) on the allegations, a call to the phone number allegedly belonging to the outfit’s new spokesperson did not receive a favourable response.
The officer, who refused to confirm his identity, simply asked: “Where are you calling from?”
When the reporter said Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the officer replied: “I am not the appropriate person to speak with you. I am at the headquarters and I am not in charge. The person who gave you my number should give you the number of the correct person to talk to you, or let me see how I will get the number for you.”
As of the time of filing this report yesterday, he had not got back to our correspondent.
Death Roll Now 83 – Gov Alia
Meanwhile, Governor Hyacinth Alia has announced that internally displaced persons (IDP) camps have been increased from 14 to 17 following the sustained attacks on farming communities. The number of IDPs was yet to be established.
The permanent secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management, Sir James Iorapuu, through his information officer, Ager Tema, said 21 of the 23 councils were under siege by the marauding herdsmen who are occupying some of the communities.
Governor Alia had described the sustained invasions as well-coordinated with an agenda of forced occupation.
While commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for identifying with the state during its trying moment, he revealed that the number of those killed had increased from 56 to 72.
During Ribadu’s visit, he said: “As I speak, one of those we brought down here for medical attention just died. Even as the Ter Ukum disclosed that as we speak here, the herders have attacked Afia, and I am told that 11 corpses have so far been recovered, and still counting, and this brings the number of those killed to 83.”
Kidnap of 19 Passengers Worsens Insecurity In Benue
Meanwhile, armed men on Thursday abducted 19 passengers in two vehicles on the Makurdi/Naka/Adoka Road in the state.
According to the locals, the incident happened about three kilometres from Naka, the headquarters of the Gwer WestLocal Government, which is worst hit by the incessant attacks.
A commercial bus driver who identified himself as Dele told our correspondent that the vehicles involved were Picnic and Sharon buses, each carrying nine and 10 passengers, including drivers, respectively.
The abduction was confirmed to our correspondent by the secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, High-Level Unit, Yakubu Onu, who said the two commercial vehicles belonged to their members.
He said one of the vehicles left Makurdi for Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Thursday morning when it was ambushed by gunmen near Naka town.
Onu added that the second vehicle, which was ambushed at the same spot, was returning from Ankpa in Kogi State to Makurdi.
The Ter Tyoshin and chairman of the Gwer West Traditional Council, HRH Daniel Abomtse, said an elderly woman, a lactating mother, her two children, and a driver, were not abducted.
He said, “The spared passengers reported the incident to the police station, and they were later released to continue their journey.”
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