By Peter Duru

It took the intervention of Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, VDM, to prevail on angry Benue youths to end their protest over the killings in the state after they took over the popular Wurukum Roundabout Sunday morning, preventing vehicular movements from the Northern and Southern parts of the country.

The thousands of protesters who stormed the roundabout as early as 7am singing solidarity songs as they marched round the popular roundabout near the Makurdi Bridge resisted all pleas by the Benue State Police Commissioner, Ifeanyi Emenari and the Deputy Governor, Samuel Ode to vacate the roundabout as commuters remained stranded.

Even the low-flying helicopters that came hovering around the area did not scare the protesters, who stood their ground as they moved around with tree branches and placards with inscriptions like “Stop Benue killings”, “Government has failed us”, “We will not surrender to Fulani” among others.

One of the leaders of the youths and social media influencer, Seedoff Mbapuun alias Benue Pete Edochie, lamented that they embarked on the protest because the attacks and killings in the state were getting out of hand, and the government was not doing enough to end it.

He said: “These attacks have been going on for years and no one is safe anymore and Yelewata is not far from Makurdi. People are killed everyday in Benue and the world is not aware. We have had enough that is why we came out to let the world know.”

The Police Commissioner, on his part,  appealed to the protesters to vacate the roundabout, stressing that the police were in control of the situation, assuring that the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, had deployed the Police Special Forces and Tactical Teams to parts of the state to help put an end to the attacks and killings.

He said: “What you saw happen in Yelewata Saturday was because we have taken over Apa, Gwer West and are pushing in Agatu, and while they were escaping, they just wanted to do something to create the impression that they were in control.

“Some of the bandits were eliminated during the exchange of fire. So, with the support and reinforcement from the IGP, you can rest assured that we are in control in collaboration with sister security agencies.

“So we feel your pains with you because we are here for no other reason but the security of lives and property in the state. In the last month in the state, we deployed security everywhere to ensure peace.

“In Yelewata, I was monitoring the situation; the Tactical Team exchanged fire with the bandits for over six hours. And before then, they were in the bushes even up till now as I speak.

“So we need the support of all the youths and everybody in Benue state. We are passing through a phase that will soon come to an end. We will not allow criminals to distract us.

“I am appealing that you give the Special Forces and Tactical Teams on ground time to work. You can imagine that instead of our being in the bushes with other security agencies, we are here. If you prolong your action here at the roundabout you are giving the enemies opportunity to plan. We have intelligence of their movement and we are checkmating them and you will see the desire result soon.”

Despite the appeal, the angry youths stood their ground and started echoing repeatedly, “gGoto Yelewata, go to Yelewata.”

The youth, shortly after, brought out cooking utensils and two bags of rice to prepare their meal when the Deputy Governor, Sam Ode, drove in to address them.

They refused to listen to him, asking him to leave the scene demanding for the Governor to come and address them.

But in the midst of the confusion, the Deputy Governor drove off, and some policemen fired teargas canisters to disperse the huge group.

In the ensuing stampede, the angry youths remained defiant. They took over the busy New Otukpo Road, making bonfires on segments of the road stretching to the Abu King Shuluwa Road junction.

The standoff lasted about five hours when
VeryDarkMan drove from the Konshisha Street axis of the town to meet up with the protesting youths who had also barricaded all the link roads and sang war songs.

His emergence triggered heavy jubilation among the protesters, who surged forward to catch a glimpse of him.

Addressing the angry youths who listened attentively by the UBA junction, he appealed to them to open up the barricaded roads to allow for the free flow of traffic. Also, he put out the bonfires made on major highways.

He pointed out that the era of embarking on violent protest was over, saying, “Before coming here, I saw alarming things I have never seen in my life. I saw children burnt to ashes, a lot of children, a lot of people, crops and people’s food were burnt in Yelewata, and we have a government.

“This state has suffered this since I was a boy. I have been hearing about Benue killings since I was a child, herdsmen and the Benue people. Till tomorrow, the government has not been able to do anything.

“This insecurity has left alot of youth jobless because when a state is insecured no one would come and invest there. The youths will be frustrated and some will take to crime. So the government urgently needs to do something about it.”

Admonishing the crowd, he said, “If we are protesting, we must also need to use our brains. How do we do that? The only reason the police will shoot teargas is when you use the wrong pattern. The pattern of blocking the road will not yield the desired result.

“If you continue to make a bonfire, it will only give the police reason to use teargas. Think about it. But if you do it freely and walk and walk, you do the Jericho walk without fighting anyone, just the usual walk even around the government house, and see if they would not act.

“So let’s use civility for the government to act. We must know that by blocking the road, we are restricting other people.

“That being said we must do the protect but let’s be civil. The era of burning things is over, this is 2025. We have our phones and we can communicate with each other, we are bigger then this.” He added.

The protesters immediately agreed with him and started opening up the roads. They also led VDM to Wurukum Roundabout amid the shooting of teargas canisters by the police, where he also appealed to the youths to disperse.

He urged them to properly organise the protest on a scheduled date with permission from the police, who would also come out to provide security cover for the protest to be successful without violence.

At that point, the protesters agreed to disperse as they sang solidarity songs. They also hailed him for showing up in the state and the rally venue despite the tension in the town.

Vanguard News