By Peter Duru, Makurdi

It was six hours of sheer madness at the Dangote Benue Cement factory in Gboko last week Wednesday. And at the end of the mayhem, 13 persons lay dead, while 154 heavy-duty trucks belonging to the company and other transporters were burnt beyond recognition.

About 60 private cars belonging to customers of the company were also set ablaze by factional mobs that engaged in a free-for-all at the plant that Wednesday night.

Also torched by the feuding parties were several business outlets located within the premises of the factory at Yandev.

The crisis which resulted to the carnage was sparked off by a sharp disagreement between transporters and some staff of the company over an accident that occurred there.

The bloody clash left the Mbayion community deserted with charred remains of burnt trucks and bodies of the victims littering the vicinity of the factory and the Yandev-Makurdi road.

Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered from sources that the sudden outbreak of violence was prompted by years of bottled up anger among staffers, hence the devastation that trailed the minor disagreement.

The vicinity of BCC was suddenly turned into a theater of war and massacre that left the company, its customers and others similarly affected counting huge losses.

While the crisis lasted, the entire Tse-Kucha community was in total disarray as the inhabitants of the community took to their heels for safety.

The feuding parties blocked the Gboko-Makurdi Federal Highway attacking commuters and motorists on the route as they made desperate u-turns to escape being lynched by the mob.

While narrating his experience, an eyewitness and staff of one of the banks operating within the premises of the factory told VM on grounds of anonymity that the feuding parties were made up of mainly Tiv and Hausa speaking drivers of the company who were all known to be very good friends.

He said that the fighters made use of petrol bombs to burn down vehicles and property within the premises.

“In the midst of the confusion, we saw petrol bombs flying from all corners and in no time, trucks, cars and some buildings were on fire; it is still a mystery that we were able to escape with our lives because the intensity of the fighting was just mind boggling.

*Carcasses of some of the trucks burnt during the orgy of violence

“It was as if we were in a war front. That also accounts for the level of destruction and number of lives that were lost in the imbroglio. I must also add that but for the quick intervention of security personel, the plant would have been torched by the fighters,” the eyewitness said.

As the company counts its losses that runs into billions of Naira, Governor Gabriel Suswam who led security personnel on assessment of the level of damage at the factory site warned against the escalation of the crisis.

Gov. Suswam wondered why a minor disagreement between colleagues at the BCC could be allowed to degenerate to the loss of lives and destruction of valuable property at the factory.

Suswam who was accompanied on the assessment visit by the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii and senior military and police personnel called on the indigenes of the state to condemn the act which he described as a devastation of monumental proportion.

“I urged the people of Benue State to condemn the level of destruction at the plant because what has happened here is a monumental loss.

“It is also paramount that the management of the BCC ensures that disagreement or disputes among its staffers are not allowed to degenerate but settled within the plant.

“I plead with members of the host community to stay away from getting involved in the crisis in order to ensure that the matter did not escalate,” Gov Suswam said in an emotion-laden voice.

The Governor also assured that the state government would ensure that normal production activities resumed at the factory site in three days.

Earlier in his remarks, the Transition Caretaker Chairman of the Gboko Local Government Council, Mr. Isaac Angande, informed that the crisis was sparked off by a disagreement among staff of the company.

Angande pleaded that security be beef up at the plant site to checkmate reoccurrence of the ugly incident.

In his comments after assessing the carnage, the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Emmanuel Obiako, who regretted the level of destruction at the factory, disclosed that the Police was considering the possibility of setting up a Police Area Command at the factory site.

Obiako noted that the Police had already beefed up security at the plant in order to forestall further escalation of the crisis.

Also speaking on the reason for the bloodbath, the General Manager Finance, BCC Gboko, Mr. Mike Etu, disclosed that the issue that sparked off the crisis was neither religious nor ethnic but unfortunate.

He disclosed that the company had of late been confronted with serious security threats from unknown persons who sometimes break into the company’s premises to disrupt production.

He said: “In fact we had recorded near vandalism of the company’s equipment; in some instances our conveyor belts were halted by unknown persons who disrupted our production”.

Etu stressed that police security arrangement at the plant was far inappropriate for a plant as big as the BCC, pleading that a more robust security arrangement be put in place.

The paramount ruler of Gboko, Ter Gboko, Chief Sar Adi has meantime warned the people of Mbayion to desist from looting the plant and the property of those who escaped the fighting.

He also pleaded with the state government to ensure that normalcy returned to the community and business activities resumed at the factory to avoid disruption in the distribution of cement from the plant.

In his comment also, the President of Mbayion Development Movement, Mr. Benedict Kyado who condemned the destruction and killings at the BCC, recalled that in the past, the community had running battles with the company but was quick to add that the management of company and the people of the community resolved their differences and established close working relationship to the benefit of both parties.

Kyado said: “Even when we had crisis with the management of BCC and we lost some of our sons, nothing like this happened. Today we derive a lot of benefits from the company and we will have no cause to encourage violence in our community. What has happened here is condemnable”.

Fielding questions from newsmen after undertaking an assessment of the level of destruction at the factory site, Dangote Group’s Corporate Communications Manager for Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Jibrin Abubakar, lamented the loss of lives and the level of destruction at the premises of the factory.

Jubrin pointed out that the company was dedicated to ensuring harmonious working relationship among its staff, regretting that the crisis was uncalled for and unfortunate. He added that though the crisis did not directly affect the running of the company, the chaotic scene at the lorry park paints an appalling picture.

He urged workers in the plants to be law abiding and also respect the sanctity of human life.

Meanwhile a detachment of military and police personnel have been drafted into Gboko and the factory site to maintain law and order.