Violence: Affected towns in Kaduna, Benue protest, task security agencies on fairness

BY ANDREW OROLUA

The Atyap Community in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State has expressed sadness over the resurgence of attacks on its villages.

The community, who addressed a press conference on Monday in Samaru, lamented that the attacks had claimed a lot of lives with houses, livestock and food barns burnt down.

Mr Samuel Achi, National President, Atyap Development Association, who spoke on behalf of the community, urged the security agencies to be fair to all so as to earn the confidence required for efficiency.

He specifically urged them to adopt measures to apprehend the attackers and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent to others.

Regretting that Atyap land had dominated the headlines for the wrong reasons following the renewed attacks, he listed worst hit villages to include Ungwan-Wakili, Lagson, Atakjei and Runji.

He said that thousands of residents had been displaced as many villages were burnt down.

The community, however, faulted a recent report by Brig.-Gen. Timothy Opurum, Sector Commander of Operation Safe Haven, in which he blamed the attacks on the alleged poisoning of cows.

Achi quoted the report, said to be the First Quarter Security Report presented to Gov. Nasir El-Rufai on April 19, as accusing the Atyap of killing cows and the herders, a development, he said, sparked up the attacks.

Achi described the allegations as “a total fallacy”.

He also said that it was not right for the security chief to accuse the traditional leaders of failing to prevent the crises.

He posited that Opurum should have acknowledged the contributions of the Atyap Traditional Council and other community leaders toward maintaining peace in the Chiefdom.

He added that the allegations of cow poisoning came as a surprise to the Atyap community.

“The allegation came to us as a surprise because he knows of a standing agreement in Atyap land that if there is a proven case of cow poisoning against any community, such community shall be responsible for replacing such cows.

“In the same coin, the owner of cows that destroy any farm shall bear full responsibility for such destruction.

“With this agreement, there is no justification for the attacks,” he said.

He called for an end to the attacks, urging the people to always be alert.

On his part, Mr Francis Sani, Chairman, Zango-Kataf Local Government, called on the state and federal government, as well as the international community, to come to the aid of his people by ending the killings.

Sani pointed out that without peace, no community would develop.

Efforts to speak with Opurum proved unsuccessful, but a senior security officer, who craved anonymity, assured the Atyap community that everything was being done to restore peace to the area.

In the same vein, residents of Opaha and Edikwu communities in the Apa Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State have sent save our soul (SOS)call to the federal government to deploy soldiers to their communities to halt ongoing killings of innocent residents.

The residents made appeal from their refuse camp.They said the call is directed to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Faruk Yahaya whose intervention and establishment of a military base in their communities would safe them from being eliminated by herdsmen.

Their appeal followed recent incessant attacks on their communities in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State in which not less than 22 persons were killed in the last two weeks.

According to them, the deployment of troops in the area would enable the residents who had taken refuse in camps to return to their home, and as an assurance that further attacks would be prevented or repel.

They said that “last Tuesday’s attack by suspected herdsmen left many dead, including two military officers and that when the dust was settled, 11 corpses were recovered by survivors with eyewitnesses saying two soldiers also lost their lives in a bid to ward off the attackers.”

Their remains have been laid in mass graves, while the communities remain ghost towns.

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Leaders of the affected communities, including a state lawmaker, Abu Umoru and the commissioner for finance, who represented Governor Samuel Ortom, met with the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

While the leaders condoled with the communities, assuring them everything was being done to end the insecurity the communities leaders said that promises of an end to attacks have not yielded any results as their neighbour, Agatu local government has also come under attacks.