Benue: Herdsmen kill 2 riot policemen

* As Buhari orders IGP to relocate to Benue

• Presidency to hold stakeholders conference on farmers, herdsmen conflict

Death toll in Nasarawa killings rises to 25

Suspected herdsmen have killed two riot policemen during an ambush in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State on Monday.

Confirming the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria in Makurdi on Tuesday, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, said a police patrol team sent to the area was attacked late on Monday.

He added that the command immediately dispatched a reinforcement team which repelled the attackers and restored normalcy in the area.

Yamu said because of the nature of the attack, it was difficult to ascertain the number of casualties, especially as the attackers were many.

NAN recalls that the Chairman of Guma Local Government, Anthony Shawon, had alleged that hordes of herdsmen were camped at Dogon Yashi Forest from where they launched attacks on villages in the area.

Shawon, who is also the Chairman of Association of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria in Benue State, explained that the forest stretched from Guma to Logo on the banks of River Benue covering over 57km.

The Daily Times recalls that the suspected herders had attacked some Benue communities on New Yew Day and killed 71 people. The state government has fixed Thursday for the mass burial of the victims.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to relocate to Benue State to quell the festering killings by herdsmen in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas in Benue State.

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, also quoted President Buhari as directing “that the Inspector General of Police moves immediately to Benue State to restore law and order, prevent further loss of lives and forestall the crisis from escalating and spreading in the state.”

The statement added that in compliance with the Presidential directives, “the IGP is moving into Benue State with additional five Units of Police Mobile Force (PMF) making a total of 10 Units of PMF deployed in the state”.

The 10 Units of Police Mobile Force is in addition to other Police formations on the ground in the state before the crisis.

“More Units of the Police Special Forces, Counter Terrorism Units, and Conventional Policemen are already being deployed to the state as at this time today (00.24 am) this (Tuesday) morning to comply in totality with the Presidential order.”

He added that the Aerial Surveillance by Police Helicopters will continue, while the Police Mobile Force Personnel, Police Special Forces and conventional Police Personnel, the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Police Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD) and Special Police Joint Intelligence and Investigation Teams already deployed to Benue State will carry on un-relentlessly with the patrols and crime prevention activities in the affected areas to sustain the normalcy that have been restored in the state.

The Police said that, “it will not hesitate to deal decisively with trouble maker(s), any group(s) or individual for conduct likely to instigate the escalation of the crisis. The full weight of the law will be applied on anyone arrested for being responsible for the mayhem in the affected areas in the state.

“The Nigeria Police Force commiserated with government and the people of Benue State over the loss of innocent lives. We implored them to cooperate with the Nigeria Police Force in this latest effort to restore lasting peace in the state.”

The statement assured that the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to ensure law and order and protection of lives and property of all Nigerians throughout the country remains unequivocal and unwavering.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has said that it will come up with a conference of stakeholders on infrastructural and agricultural development to put in place a plan for immediate relief and long term plan for the expansion of agriculture in the country with a view to finding short term and long term solutions to the frequent conflicts between farmers and cattle rearers.

The conference will tap into experiences and best practices to draw up a planned development 20-30 years ahead based on population and development projections and will take into consideration environmental impacts.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Mr Garba Shehu, who stated this in a statement on Tuesday, added that President Buhari has been concerned about these conflicts each time he received those very gruesome pictures of mayhem from several parts of the country, especially as it affected Benue and neighbouring states.

According to him, Buhari is worried about some public pronouncements and finger-pointing that are in most cases very unhelpful to peaceful coexistence of our diverse peoples.

Shehu stated that the President was conscious of his duty to Nigerians, not least because he is held accountable for everything that goes wrong. He also said that the President sympathised with the families and all the other direct and indirect victims of this violence, adding that he is determined to bring it to a permanent end.

The statement reads in part: “While there are many Nigerians who see the conflict between the nomadic herdsmen and peasant farmers as an ethnic problem, others point to religious differences and agenda. The President does not subscribe to such simplistic reductionism.

“President Buhari holds the view, as do many experts, that these conflicts are more often than not, as a result of major demographic changes in Nigeria. When Nigeria attained independence, the population of the country was estimated at about 63,000,000. Today the population is estimated at close to 200,000,000; while the land size has not changed and will not change. Urban sprawl and development have simply reduced land area both for peasant farming and cattle grazing.

“It is therefore both unfair and unkind, for anyone to keep insinuating that the President is condoning the spate of killings in Benue and other neighbouring states.

“President Buhari has publicly condemned the violence at every turn. He is prepared to permit every possible step that can lead to the stoppage of the killings. It is on account of this he brushed aside an opinion that the federal government should challenge the constitutionality of the anti-open grazing bill. He wanted to give a chance to the State government to succeed in stopping the senseless killings.

“It will be recalled that as he did in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, which required sustained action from the government before it was finally curtailed, President Buhari gave the relevant mandates to the country’s security agencies to put a stop to the Benue killings.

“The killings must stop and the security agencies have the President’s support to do this as quickly as possible.

“Whipping up hate may captivate the public and score political points on social media, but it will not bring an end to the crisis. Let every stakeholder instead sit down with the government and security forces and carry everyone along in finding an all-embracing solution.

“As a father, a military General and a statesman, President Buhari has maintained lasting relationships with Nigerians, Muslims and Christians among every ethnic group. It is also a known fact that the young people who trek the whole distance of thousands of kilometers tending the cattle do not own the cattle. In fact many of the cattle are not owned by Fulanis or Muslims. The point is that it is too simplistic to see the conflict as ethnic or religious.”

He maintained that the President seeks the support and cooperation of all citizens and the media in particular, to join hands with his administration to find permanent solutions and not to aggravate or escalate tensions in all conflict areas of the country.

In a related development, killings have continued unabated in Nasarawa State following attacks on some selected communities in Awe, Keana and Doma local government areas of the state.

At the last count, no fewer than 25 persons have been reportedly killed by suspected herdsmen that continued to kill and machete persons sighted on roads or farms by the gun wielding herdsmen.

Investigation have shown that Keana local government recorded the highest number of deaths, followed by Awe local government where the evil lords now lay siege on major roads to attack their victims despite several calls for calm by government and spirited individuals within and outside the state.

Beside those killed, one of our reporters who went to find out the situation on ground in Kuduku in Keana local government area of the state, narrowly escaped death by the whiskers.

Former chairman of Tiv Consultative Forum in Keana local government of the state, Chief Igbasue Kuza, told newsmen on Tuesday in Lafia, the state capital, that over 14 persons have so far been killed apart from unspecified numbers killed at Gidan Adidi village by the gunmen.

He named communities where the killings took place to include: Kuduku, Iornya, Apeele and Gidan Adidi, just as he said many houses were set ablaze by the marauders.

According to him, the victims met their death when they had gone to fetch foodstuffs from their houses while some were killed on the road when they were scampering for safety.

An Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Awe who simply gave his name as Orkuma also told journalists in Lafia that over six persons have been killed by the suspected Fulani herdsmen in places such as Gidan Wurji,Ampana, Taku in Azara.

He regretted the spate of killings by armed suspected herdsmen in the area, just as he said that herdsmen now lay siege on roads leading to villages to hunt for any person on sight to kill in the area.

Investigation revealed that about 300 suspected Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weapons were allegedly brought into the state and stationed at Mararaban Igbabo along Agyaragu Ankoma road in Doma local government of the state and near Kuduku, a community that borders with Guma local government in Benue state and Apeele also of Keana where they embarked on attacks.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, Nasarawa State Command, Idirisu Kennedy, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), told one of correspondents on telephone that the command was in the know of killing of two persons at Keana local government area in the state.

Andrew Orolua and Mathew Dadiya, Abuja and Augustine Kwuza, Lafia