By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Again, Benue is in tears, the spilling of the blood of the innocent farmers by marauding armed herdsmen has resumed in earnest after close to 18 months of relative peace.

Sadly this nightmare was foretold by the people and Governor Samuel Ortom who repeatedly raised the alarm and warned that the state faced the prospect of a repeat of the 2018 New Year’s day bloody attacks especially with the mass influx of armed herdsmen into communities bordering Nasarawa state, but nobody gave a listening ear.

Benue, the epicenter of herdsmen killings in Nigeria boils again. Women and children who are always at the receiving end are on the move, fleeing in search of safe haven where they can find one.

It all started last Tuesday when a woman and three young men were slaughtered like animals while many sustained injuries in Waya community, Jato-Aka in Kwande Local Government Area, LGA, after the community came under severe attack by the marauders who also took six of their victims hostage.

According to a resident who gave his name as John “for several days these well armed herdsmen have been roaming our villages with their cattle and we have been crying out but nobody heard our cry until yesterday when they came again and started shooting at everybody they saw, killing four persons and abducted six others in our communities and river bank where they took their cattle to drink,” he said.

Tse-Keleke and New City both in Guma LGA also came under salvos of attacks by the armed herdsmen who bared their fangs on the innocent people and reportedly chased them away from their homes and took over the communities.

Interestingly, days before the attack, Governor Samuel Ortom while playing host to leaders of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, who visited to express worry over the IDPs situation in the state and unrestrained influx of armed herdsmen into the state in defiance of the extant law prohibiting open grazing, and cried out that the military operation in the state should be strengthened to meet the challenges of the time. Regrettably that outcry was misconstrued and not swiftly acted upon as expected and the innocent people are worse off for it.

At the moment there is high pitch tension and unease in the state, this latest killings have undoubtedly left the people traumatized even as they brood their fate.

Reacting to the renewed killings in his constituency, the lawmaker representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, Mr. Bob Tyough decried the unending herdsmen attacks in the state.

While adding his voice to the call by Governor Ortom for the military operation to be strengthen with more personnel and hardwares, Tyough disclosed that “Kwande LGA has only 35 police personnel. How would 35 police men guarantee the safety of lives and property in a whole local government area?

“That is why I read with shock, the claim by the Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini in an interview with journalists that his team has ended insecurity in Benue and flushed out all criminals from the state.

“While not taking anything away from the commitment and gallantry of the military in our state, particularly troops of OPWS, I wish to raise objection to the sweeping claim which tends to sell the impression that total peace has returned to Benue State and our people are no longer under attacks.

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“As the member representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, I can authoritatively say that my people are still being attacked on daily basis by herdsmen militia. Just yesterday, four persons were killed and many others injured at Waya community in Jato-Aka, Kwande LGA.

“Such developments prompted the outcry by our governor which implied that as much as the military operation has done well, a lot more needed to be done to ensure, for instance, that Benue communities are safer so that our people can return to their ancestral homes,” he said.

On his part, Mr. Benjamin Mzondu representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency raised concern that his constituency had also suffered the worst of the unprovoked attacks in recent times.

According to him, “just few days ago, two communities, Tse-Keleke and New City both in Guma came under fierce herdsmen attacks leaving many injured and thousands displaced. Armed herders have been invading my people’s farms with their animals in spite of the military presence in the area.

“The other day, hundreds of cows accompanied by armed herders invaded the campus of Joseph Tarka University Makurdi and were grazing openly unrestrained and causing fear among the students and staff of the institution.

“It is true that OPWS has done well to curtail some of the attacks but there is also the need for the Federal Government to beef up the operation. This is our stance, it is the position of our people and Governor Ortom reechoed it few days back,” Mzondu added.

Coalition of Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, also expressed worry over the renewed attacks and also called for the strengthening of the OPWS to stem the tide.

They lamented that in the past two years “Benue state has been burdened with having to manage a horrendous humanitarian crisis occasioned by sustained attacks on unarmed citizens across Local Government Areas of the State.

“Based on evidence before us, these attacks were perpetrated by well trained and well-armed herdsmen that have operated like a terrorist group determined to erase Benue State from the face of the earth.”

According spokesperson of the CSOs and North Central Coordinator, West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP Nigeria) Mr. Nathaniel Awuapila, the attacks and the IDPs situation was a burden too much for the state to carry.

In a text titled, ‘call for urgent security reawakening to end armed attacks in Benue state’ the CSOs recalled efforts being made by the state government, stakeholders and security agencies to end the security challenge in the state and also have the IDPs return home.

They however expressed regrets that the massive influx of armed herders into the state posed a greater challenge to the return of security and peace in the state.

According to Awuapila “the civil society in Benue State is disturbed by the protracted security situation in the state and wishes to state clearly that the issue of insecurity is still ongoing in the state and lives are still being lost.

“Civil Society networks and coalitions in the state recommends that security agencies should as matter of urgency strengthen security interventions across the state, particularly OPWS should show more commitment towards prevention rather than response to attacks.

“Benue state government should also strengthen a home grown local security apparatus to support and compliment the Federal Government security effort.

“The state government should deepen border security surveillance and enhance joint intelligence information gathering and sharing to enhance violence prevention capacity both at the local and regional levels,” he said.

The CSOs also urged that steps be taken to ensure that the IDPs safely return to their ancestral homes within the shortest time possible after peace had returned to the communities and their safety could be guaranteed.

Vanguard