This is just as the Benue State governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, declared that the attacks on Agatu community in the state, which drew wide attention were systematic, well planned and coordinated. The group, which made the demand in a memorandum presented at a public hearing of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Police Affairs, National Security, Intelligence and Public Safety and Defence, said the government should rehabilitate and compensate the Benue people who had suffered many attacks by the ravaging herdsmen.
President General of MUT, Engr. Edward Ujege, who presented the demand on behalf of the group, said that the attacks on Benue communities by herdsmen were deliberate and calculated.
He pointed out that these attacks were intended at sacking and occupation of these communities by the herdsmen, wondering how such large number of unidentified herdsmen entered into the country with their herds bearing arms unnoticed by any individual or government agency. He said: “The herdsmen have ransacked whole communities in Benue and other parts of the country, plundered, killed and chased everyone out; and are now comfortably settled on these lands.”
He told the joint committee that Fulani herdsmen have invaded and occupied portions of 11 out of 14 local government areas constituting 78 per cent of Tiv speaking areas.
According to him, conflicts between herdsmen and farmers have been with the Tiv nationality for a long time and was seasonal in nature, adding that certain groups, notably Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), have come out to claim responsibility on some of these attacks.
In his presentation at the hearing, Ortom alleged that the attacks were systematic and an orchestrated plot by Fulani herdsmen with their foreign collaborators to annihilate the inhabitants of the state and establish a caliphate in the area. Represented by the deputy governor, Chief Benson Abounu, the governor decried the alarming influx of herdsmen into the state. “We’re all witnesses to what happened in Mali sometimes ago, where some people tried to establish a caliphate, and from what we heard, when the people there chased them, they moved to Nigeria. They entered Benue from Taraba.
We think this information is authentic because if you look at what happened in Agatu, it was well calculated. We believe that what is happening in Benue State is not mere communal clashes; it’s more than that.
“What happened in Agatu is better seen than imagined. We’re talking about a systemic takeover of a whole land of people. What happened in the North-East can’t be compared to what happened in Agatu. They made sure that they burnt down everywhere they go.
“Oweto, Ahila, etc., are completely wiped out. We believe that there’ll be a complete hunger next year. There appears to be a systemic movement of some people to Benue State to annihilate the people and establish some kind of kingdom.
Also speaking, the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase, said that the police is corroborating with other security agencies to ensure the cessation of the attacks by herdsmen on Benue communities. He, however, suggested that community policing should be encouraged in the communities as a way of checking influx of questionable groups and persons. The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) was, however, absent for the second day at the investigative hearing.
Newtelegraph
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