..demand justice —Indigenes
Ten years ago, the bustling town of Zaki_Biam, in a geographical area known as the Sankera axis of Benue State had a sour taste of Nigeria’s military might when a detachment of the Nigerian Army allegedly invaded the town in a reprisal attack for the alleged cold blooded murder of 19 soldiers sent to restore peace in the town following an ethnic violence in the area.

The attack on Zaki Biam could best be described as an ethnic cleansing considering the magnitude of the carnage that trailed the attack and the global outrage that greeted the Army operation.

In that operation, the entire Sankera axis was cordoned off by soldiers with an armada of armoured tanks that were given air cover by helicopter gunboats.

Zaki Biam...The attack on Zaki Biam could best be described as an ethnic cleansing considering the magnitude of the carnage that trailed the attack and the global outrage that greeted the Army operation

The military juggernaut then proceeded to unleash systematic terror on unarmed civilians, a type that has not been heard of or seen in Nigerian history.

At the end of that military action, no fewer than 300 persons including women, children, young and old were massacred with many of the women violated in that gory expedition.

Many properties were also destroyed at the end of it all and prominent amongst the victims of the attack was a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt_Gen. Victor Malu, whose houses were burnt and relations killed in the invasion. Same was the fate of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Chaha and lots of other prominent indigenes of the area.

Though Zaki Biam keeps ringing a bell when the tale of the invasion and massacre is mentioned, suffice it to state here that many other towns and communities in the Sankera axis were equally violated in a manner never witnessed in the country after the Nigerian civil war.

Some of the communities include Vaase, Gbeji and Ayilamo where 10 years after, the people are still leaking their wounds and counting their losses just as nothing tangible has been done on the side of the Federal Government to bring succour to the devastated people despite an Enugu High Court ruling which pronounced a N40billion compensation for the horde of victims of the attack.

Though six years after the carnage, in November 2007 to be precise, during the Chief of Army Staff Conference held in Makurdi, the then Chief of Army Staff of blessed memory, Lieutenant General Luka Yusuf, apologised to the people and government of Benue State over the army invasion of Zaki Biam in 2001.

Addressing the gathering at the JS Tarka Foundation, Makurdi, which also had in attendance the then late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the state Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, Gen. Yusuf said the action of the Army was just the military’s normal role as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He further said, “Indeed, we are here on a reconciliation meeting. The people of Benue State before now thought the army is brutal, but we are not. I want to use this opportunity to sincerely appeal to the people of Benue State to understand that the army only played its own role but had no intention whatsoever, to make anybody lose his sleep.

“We have no intention to make anybody look at us like bad boys. It all happened because we had to play our role, and we are sincerely apologising and pray that you understand our own role as enshrined in the constitution”, he added.

In his response to the plea, the Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, accepted the apology on behalf of the people of the state. He also urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate the victims of the army invasion to remove the scars of the incident.

But 10 years after, nothing tangible has been done as the people of Sankera have been left to lick their wounds and bear their pains.

The people have all braced the challenge and have since embarked on the massive reconstruction of their towns and villages with little or no support, though kudos must be given to the present administration led by Governor Gabriel Suswam who in the last four years embarked on a massive face lift of rural roads in the affected towns and villages.

Aside this effort by the Suswam administration, the people are still counting their loses just as the scares of that military adventure still remain indelible in their minds.

Their situation was even made worse by the failure of the Federal government to pay the N40billion reparation to the victims after an Enugu High Court ruling to that effect.

Sadly, the arrowhead in the fight for compensation for the victims, Dr. Alexander Gaadi who through his Benue Democratic Movement BDM fought for a recompense for the traumatized people lost his life only recently after a protracted illness that left him bedridden for a very long time.

Aside the frustrated effort to avail the people some form of reparation, the white paper of the report of the Justice Okechukwu Opene investigative panel which was reluctantly set up by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo led federal government to investigate the carnage has not seen the light of day several years after the report was submitted to government.

The report went the way other panels set up by governments in Nigeria have gove; thrashed and forgotten. It is also believed that the then government of Olusegun Obasanjo refused to release it because the report said one or two things in its conclusion that were considered offensive to his administration. This was reinforced by the public apology by his successor, the then late President Yar’Adua and the then Chief of Army Staff.

Despite the concerted efforts to conceal and distort the facts of the blood bath, a group under the aegis of the Survivors of the Zaki_Biam crisis recently urged the Federal government to release the white paper of the commission of enquiry set up to investigate the killings that trailed the military invasion.

The group maintained that the release of the white paper would permanently address the issues relating to the killings and also apportion blames where necessary.

According to the group, “It is this unwarranted secrecy which surrounds the report that has today resulted in the shifting of blame as to who was responsible for inviting the soldiers who wreaked such bestial havoc on defenseless women and children.

“It is for this very reason that we issue this statement demanding as a matter of urgency that the administration of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, immediately intervene in this matter by ordering for the immediate release of the report of the JCI since it is only when that is done that the souls of our dearly departed will finally rest in peace”.

The group further regretted the trading of words amongst the major players in the crisis at the time stressing that “it was not in doubt that the then Governor George Akume requested for the release and deployment of soldiers into Sankera and the mayhem that followed has become history, the issues would be laid to rest at the release of the white paper.”

They urged the people of the area to remain calm and supportive of the present administration in the state, adding that the truth of the 2001 invasion and massacre of Sankera would definitely be told.

But as the people await the unveiling of the truth of the matter, some of the survivors of the massacre, recounted to Saturday Vanguard, their experiences during the years after the carnage.

Recounting his ordeal, Mr. Emmanuel Ujah a native of Ayilamo who lost property and loved ones in that infamous operation stressed that life has not been the same for his people after then.

Ujah lamented that years after the invasion, his people have been forgotten despite several promises by the Federal government to rehabilitate the victims.

“What happened in Sankera was a carnage of unimaginable magnitude, aside losing our loved ones, our schools, hospitals and social infrastructures were all destroyed and we were left to live with the ruins, it is as bad as that.

“We had expected that the federal government would keep its words by ensuring that our people are adequately compensated even after the High Court ruling, it is just appalling that the people have been left to live with the agony of that horrific experience in the last 10 years.

“But be that as it may, we have picked up our lives and we are strongly forging ahead to make the best out of life; we are gradually rebuilding all our personal property that were destroyed in one fell swoop rather than wait for promises that might not be fulfilled in our time”, Ujah lamented.

While pouring out his heart to the reporter, paramount ruler of Zaki_Biam, Ter Ukum, HRH Chief Daniel Dzahan, said the psyche of his people was badly battered by the invasion.

According to the royal father, aside the psychological trauma the people now permanently live with, ten years on, his people were yet to come out of the shock of the devastation.

Chief Dzahan lamented that despite the monumental loss the Sankera people were left to live with, the federal government has continued to treat the people with disdain.

“The federal government that perpetrated the outrage has still today failed to console us and we still live with the psychological trauma, the pains still linger and it’s still fresh in our memories, the burden we live with as a result of that massacre is like an albatross”, he said.

The royal father also faulted the veracity of the claim of the Federal Government that his people actually killed any Nigerian soldier during the crisis.

“I say without any fear of contradiction that no Tiv man killed any Nigerian soldier keeping the peace in the state. I disagree with that allegation. It was all a ploy and excuse to kill my people”, the paramount ruler said.

He also called for a thorough investigation into what transpired at the time with a view to coming out with the true story of the genesis of the crisis and the aftermath of the invasion.

He insisted that it is only when this is done that the true story of the Zaki Biam invasion would be told.

Commenting, Comrade Richard Gbande, a prominent son of Sankera and Chairman of the Benue State Local Government Service Commission BSLGSCM regretted the bitter experience his people were face with during and after the invasion.

Gbande urged the federal government to as a matter of urgency put a process in motion to assuage the pains and losses the people are currently living with.

He noted that so many families have been wrecked by that unfortunate incident pointing out that the level of devastation the people suffered was such that it would be difficult and almost impossible for the state government to bear the burden of alleviating the enormous post invasion trauma the people now live with.

While commending Suswam for championing the course of rehabilitating the Sankera axis through the construction of multi billion Naira rural roads across the geographical entity and the new Katsina/Ala water works, Gbande urged the federal government to borrow a leaf from the efforts of the Suswam led administration by making definite pronouncements and paying reparation to the affected people who have certainly been impoverished by the military misadventure in Zaki Biam.

Meanwhile Saturday Vanguard discovered that despite the pains, trauma and affliction that was brought to bear on the people, business and commercial activities especially in the cultivation and sale of yam tubers which the people are known for has gained momentum as dealers of the farm produce from around the country and the West coast of Africa still throng the town in their heavy duty trucks to do brisk business by purchasing truck loads of yams from the popular ever busy Zaki Biam International Yam Market.

A farmer and trader in yams at the market, Mr. David Msugh rightly pointed out to Saturday Vanguard in an emotion laden voice, “though the soldiers came and destroyed lives and property, but what they could not take from us was our fertile land and our natural strength, from which we are still feeding the nation even though we still mourn our fate and yet demand justice”.