•‘We reject Buhari’s condolence to Gov. Ortom’
•Says FG’s appeasement of herdsmen has continued amid fresh threats
•Calls the Osinbajo committee diversionary, unnecessary and a waste of time and resources

BY PETER DURU, MAKURDI

Chief Edward Ujege is the President General of Mdzough U Tiv, the umbrella socio-cultural organisation of the Tiv speaking tribe cross the globe. He also chairs a joint group of the tribal leaders in Benue State. In this interview he speaks on the killings in the state, why the Benue people believe the Federal Government is giving protection to the suspected killer herdsmen, why the people rejected the VP Osinbajo committee on herdsmen crisis, the people’s position on the proposed cattle colony policy and lots more. 

•Edward Ujege

Recently you claimed that the people of Benue were living in fear of possible attacks on more communities by herdsmen. How real is the threat?

The threat is real, and, in fact, the leadership of Mdzough U Tiv, Idoma National Forum and Omi Ny’Igede, the umbrella socio-cultural organisations of the Tiv, Idoma and Igede people, want to draw the attention of the world to fresh threats of bloodshed in Benue State by the Vice President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association, Husaini Yusuf Bosso, published in the Daily Sun newspaper of January 13, 2018 and the President of Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM), Badu Salisu Ahmadu, at a press conference in Kaduna on the same date. Despite the barbaric murder of over 2, 000 Benue indigenes in the past seven years and the heinous massacre of over 73 people on January 1, 2018 as well as the wanton destruction of property, the Miyetti Allah and other herdsmen groups such as the Fulani Nationality Movement are still sounding the gongs of genocide against our people.

In the press statement issued in Kaduna, the President of the Fulani Nationality Movement, Ahmadu described the killings in Benue, particularly of Tiv people, as “well deserving and a revenge attack on the onslaught on the Fulani in neighbouring Nasarawa State”. Ahmadu went further to ask all Fulani across West Africa to raise money and arms to prosecute the war against Benue people as well as penetrate every corner of Nigeria.

In the same vein, the National Vice President, Bosso, as reported by Daily Sun, warned that more blood will be shed in Benue if the anti-open grazing law was not scrapped.

The three principal socio-cultural organisations in Benue wish to state categorically that the Fulani herdsmen attacks and invasion of Benue State preceded the enactment and implementation of the anti-open grazing law which, in fact, was motivated by the peoples’ desire to find an enduring solution to the incessant invasion by herdsmen.

The law was only passed and assented to in May 2017 and came into force on November 1, 2017 while, in the past seven years, herdsmen had carried out over 40 deadly attacks in 14 of the 23 local government areas of the state. The timeline of these killings confirm our assertion.

Don’t you think the Federal Government is taking steps to address the issue?

Not at all, the declaration of mayhem against our people by herdsmen and their sponsors has been sustained for over seven years without any effort by the Federal Government, which is in control of all the security machinery, to curtail or contain the threat of the marauders. As a result, we have paid dearly with the lives of over 2000 men, women and children.

In May and October, 2017, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore leadership, at a press conference held in Abuja and even in an open letter to the Inspector General of Police, threatened to wreak mayhem on Benue people if the anti-open grazing law came into effect. They also made several inciting statements in newspapers against our people.

As law abiding people, we raised the alarm over the inciting statements especially through press conferences in Makurdi and Abuja. We also wrote letters to security agencies, particularly the Army, Police, Navy, Air Force and the Department of State Security and the Minister of Interior. We also petitioned the President through an open letter published in Vanguard Newspaper of November   10, 2017 as well as the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. The three main socio-cultural organisations in Benue also petitioned the Sultan of Sokoto and Emir of Kano, who are grand patrons of Miyetti Allah, seeking their intervention to prevail and restrain the herders from invading our land. Unfortunately, all our pleas, entreaties and cries fell on deaf ears.

The silence by the federal authorities and those we made appeals to, to restrain the marauders emboldened the Miyetti Allah and their gangs of killers to invade and massacre over 73 of our people on January 1, 2018 and six in Odonto-Akpa in Otukpo local government area as well as four in Ojapo in Okpokwu local government area.

Despite public declarations by leadership of Miyetti Allah accepting culpability for the recent massacre as revenge or reprisal over alleged cattle rustling, no arrests have been made three weeks after the incidents.

I want to note that there has been no reported case of rustling in Benue. This has always been the case in all the incidents that had taken place since 2011. For instance, in 2013, the leaders of the Fulani herdsmen in Agatu openly boasted that his men carried out the attack on Okpachenyi community where 40 people were massacred. Till date, neither he nor any of his men has been arrested.

We have, in the past seven years, watched in horror how the Federal Government treated the Miyetti Allah and the herdsmen invasion of our state and indeed the entire Middle Belt region with kid gloves. Despite the brazen nature of their acts of criminality throughout the Middle Belt zone, none of the herdsmen has ever been arrested or made to account for these crimes. Instead, they enjoy government protection from arrest or prosecution.

All government action has been on how to appease the aggressors rather than find succour or consolation for the victims. The most heinous of such appeasement is the Federal Government plan for cattle colony. This approach clearly showed that the Federal Government places higher premium on cattle rather than on human lives. It is however gratifying that the opposition to cattle colony is mounting and widespread across the six geo-political zones of the country.

On the issue of cattle colony, what is the position of Benue people on the proposed policy?

We categorically reject the cattle colony policy. We also condemn the manner the Federal Government as well as some governors are trying to politicise the massacre in Benue. We detest the indifferent attitude of the northern governors who were expressing support for the re-election of President Buhari on the very day we were grieving and burying our dead. We take special exception that none of these governors had consoled the Benue people despite our socio-cultural and political affinity.

It is in this light that we reaffirm our rejection of President Buhari’s condolence message to Ortom because we know it is not from his heart. He has even proved us right when he told the high powered Benue delegation which visited him to “restrain your people and in the name of God accommodate your countrymen”. We now know we cannot obtain justice from the President whose declarations made us the culprits and not the victims.

It is also unfair for the Federal Government to describe the herdsmen invasion as a communal or normal herdsmen-farmers clash when most of the killings took place in the dead of the night and affected women and children. It is also erroneous to attribute these attacks to the passage of the anti-open grazing law and the idea of ranching which is receiving greater acceptance across the country. The Sultan of Sokoto and his Miyetti people must face the reality and inescapable fact that large scale nomadic practice does not belong to this age of technological advancement.

We, the people of Benue, on our part, have categorically declared our unflinching resolution that, despite the intimidation and gory killings, the anti-open grazing law has come to stay and that we are ready to defend its sustenance and implementation with every single drop of our blood.

Tribal leaders of the South and the Middle Belt Forum recently visited Benue to condole with the government and people of the state over the killings. Do we see Benue realigning and joining forces with these groups?

You cannot rule out that possibility. In these trying moments, we are looking forward to every forum that would collaborate with us in the defence of our lives, land and property. It is in this light that we appreciate and accept the offer of solidarity as exhibited by Ohaneze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum and the South South Forum during their leaders’ visit to commiserate with us.

We also appreciate the positions and efforts of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, which had directed the Inspector General of Police to arrest the masterminds of the heinous acts. We shall wait to see if he would do so.

Importantly, in reaction to the fresh threats of attacks, we are calling on the Federal Government to proscribe the Miyetti Allah socio-cultural organisations as well as the Fulani Nationality Movement. The leadership of these two organisations should also be arrested without further delay. This is the only action that can mitigate the pains and sorrow we are going through.

What is your grouse with the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo committee to resolve the farmer/herders crisis?

We note with concern the setting up of the committee by the National Economic Council, NEC, to ostensibly look into what has been wrongly termed “farmers/ herders crisis”, which is composed of nine governors and headed by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo.

The calamity that befell Benue in early January 2018 can in no way be classified as a clash. It was a dastardly attack on defenceless people while they were in their sleep. This ought to exempt Benue State from the legion of crisis ridden states for which the Osibanjo committee was set up.

The committee is therefore diversionary, unnecessary and a waste of time and resources. Our belief is that the perpetrators of the criminal invasion of our lands by mercenaries hired by influential cattle owners are known by all security agencies in this country. Our belief is bolstered by the fact that the perpetrators of this criminal invasion, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, at a press conference on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, openly boasted about their intentions and, in the aftermath, openly prided themselves on their dastardly outings. A committee is not needed to arrest these perpetrators of this genocide. Is the Federal Government unwilling to do the needful or is she siding with the notorious murderers to exterminate the Benue people?

Formal reports were made by the state governor, the state House of Assembly as well as leaders of all the socio-cultural organizations against the leaders of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, but sadly, no action has been taken against them in spite of open admission by the invaders.

It seems that it is only in this country that people openly declare war on others and government does not question them or do anything to avert the killings. Government should stop chasing shadows.

We call on security agencies to wake up to their responsibilities and arrest the culprits of the criminal invasion of Benue. We commend the Senate for giving the IGP a two week ultimatum to bring the culprits to book and we urge him to comply forthwith.