MAKURDI — President Bola Tinubu said yesterday the issue of land-grabbing would be confronted head-on, if that was the cause of the frequent killings by armed herdsmen in Benue State.
He also spoke of the constitution of a committee of elders, including ex-governors and two prominent traditional rulers in the state, to work for peace in Benue, and directed the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, to immediately arrest the killer herders who perpetrated the heinous crime.
The President was in Benue, in the aftermath of last Friday’s killing of over 200 persons by armed herdsmen at Yelwata axis of the state.
The attacks also saw the setting ablaze of several houses and the displacement of hundreds of the residents who now take refuge in internally displaced persons, IDPs, camps.
Addressing Benue stakeholders during a town hall meeting in Makurdi, the President said he was in the state to help the people achieve peace, which, according to him, is vital to development.
‘’We were not elected to bury people and have orphan and orphanages. We will work with you to achieve peace. We are here to work with the people. The people of Benue deserve peace as the Tor Tiv mentioned.
‘’For us in Nigeria, we have to proffer solutions to this. We have to confront this if it is about land grabbing. But we must learn how to share and how to accommodate, we have enough land to feed, to raise our children, to cultivate happiness and prosperity. We must do it, we must change that attitude for peace.
“We sang through the national anthem that though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand. Let it reflect in everything we do.”
Speaking further, Tinubu directed the constitution of a committee of elders in Benue State to lead the initiative to find lasting peace in the state.
He directed that the committee should include non-indigenes, former governors of the state as well as the paramount rulers of Tiv and Idoma tribes, the Tor Tiv and Och’Idoma respectively.
“Let us please find a way to form a committee of elders. That committee will comprise those who have governed this state before. It will be a committee to really find a permanent outcome to this. The committee should have non-indigenes.”
He noted that as leaders, they were elected to govern and not to bury, adding that the committee will meet in Abuja to fashion a way for lasting peace in the state.
“I am ready to invest in that peace. We will find peace and we will convert this challenge to prosperity,” he added.
The President, who had earlier visited hospitalised survivors of the attack at Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, said further: “I aborted my visit to Yelewata because of the rains and bad roads but I have seen the carnage on camera to enable us take a decision. We will do something about the redevelopment and recreation of that environment.”
In addition he said: “This is not the kind of visit I would have wanted. I want to be here to commission projects in the state for progress and development.’’
President Tinubu called out the Inspector General of Police to know why arrests had not been made. “How come no one has been arrested for committing this heinous crime in Yelewata. Inspector General of Police, where are the arrests? The criminals must be arrested immediately,” he directed.
He urged the heads of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, to intensify surveillance and gather actionable intelligence to apprehend the perpetrators.
Tinubu commended the Chief of Defense Staff and his team for doing a good job in the state and urged security agencies to keep their ears to the ground to get the criminals arrested.
Earlier in his remarks, Governor Alia, who commended President Tinubu for visiting the state, said: “This visit of yours marks the very first time we will have the president of the nation visit us on account of insecurity.
“We believe this will bring an end to the security challenges that have persisted against our people in Benue State. Even though our eyes are full of tears and emotional grief due to the loss of our loved ones, our properties, farmlands and ancestral homes, our hopes are ignited by your visit.
“Before the visit, the service chiefs and different security formations have come and we are hopeful that, this visit will bring the lasting peace the people of Benue State have long yearned for.
‘’Your presence is a form of unimaginable reassurance and we are confident that, never again will our people be subjected to this degree of underserved and barbaric inhumanity. The governor also canvassed the establishment of state police, challenging the Federal Government to work out the modalities to allay fears of people about it.”
Also speaking at the town hall meeting, the Tor Tiv, HRM Orchivirigh Prof James Ayatse, appealed to President Tinubu to give the people peace, saying it is not beyond the President to do.
He said: “It is not herder-farmer clashes. It is not communal clashes. It is not a reprisal attack or skirmish. What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by herder-terrorists and bandits.”
He cautioned that mischaracterising the crisis had led to inadequate responses and accused some political actors of exploiting the situation for selfish gain.
“We hear that some politicians would even prefer that the crisis worsens, so it would serve as a basis for declaring a state of emergency. This is unfortunate. Any politician who prays for more people to die for such a project is working against the wishes of the people of Benue State,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to President Tinubu to restore peace to the state and every part of Nigeria.
“All we ask of you, is to stop our weeping. Give us peace in Benue State, so our people, primarily farmers, can return to their farms and continue to produce food for Nigeria.
“I heard a story about a challenge in a place in Kwara State, and you rose and gave them peace in Kaiama. You can do that for Benue,’’ the monarch added.
Over 3000 IDPs scramble for food, healthcare in Nasarawa camp
Meanwhile, no fewer than 3000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, are currently in need of food and healthcare services in Nasarawa State, following the massacre of over 200 people in Yelewata.
Director-General of Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency, NASEMA, Mr. Benjamin Akwash, confirmed to our correspondent in Lafia yesterday that the IDPs were taking refuge in four camps, including Kadarko, Agyaragu, Idadu and Kpata.
According to him, 462 IDPs are in Idadu, and 521 at Kpata, both in Doma Local Government Area, while over 1,800 are taking refuge at St John primary school, Agyaragu in Lafia Local Government Area and over 40 at Kadarko in Keana Local Government Area.
Akwash disclosed that the agency had a day before the Yelewata attack, visited the Kadarko camp where food and non-food items were distributed to over one thousand Tiv farmers who fled their homes, following conflict between Fulani and Tiv farmers.“The agency is currently taking head count of IDPs to help us conclude all plans to reach out to displaced residents in the four camps, following the attack on Yelewata last Friday,” he said.
The DG, however, disclosed that there had been an increment in the number of Tivs in various camps since the attack, and called on them to stay calm.
“An assessment by our reporter showed that the four IDP camps were occupied majorly by women and children who were desperately in need of food, healthcare services and sleeping materials, as most of them slept on the bare floor. Some of the women at the Agyaragu camps who spoke with our correspondent lamented the unbearable sleeping conditions and lack of food.
“We need urgent attention from the government and any good Nigerian because we left everything behind because of the deadly attack on our people at Yelewata,” Mary Iyorhe lamented.
Others who spoke, complained bitterly about hunger and poor sanitary conditions, adding that mosquito bites prevented them from sleeping at night, as the building is an open hall.
Women and children constitute the largest number of IDPs at the Agyaragu camp.
VANGUARD.
