By Solomon Ayado
The incessant attacks by armed herdsmen on agrarian communities of Benue State which have resulted to killing of scores of persons and destruction of properties, including farmlands, is now a worrisome matter that has taken a political dimension. The Federal Government is seemingly playing politics with the matter by showing crass ineptitude in savaging the ugly situation.
The assailants dastardly invade the communities in the night, unleash terror, kill and maim innocent farmers including men, women and children, and retreat to their cocoons, unhindered. They rape women, mutilate their bodies and butcher animals mindlessly.
The attackers have destroyed schools, churches and markets, just as police stations and other government facilities are damaged.
The attacks by the armed herdsmen have continued unabated for more than a decade. The situation has led to displacement of residents who are now taking refuge in various IDPs camps across the state. Out of the 23 local government areas of the state, more than half of them are under siege.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has consistently called on the federal government to intervene by way of strenghtening security of the affected places and to ensure protection of lives and property.
Surprisingly, Ortom’s constant appeals to the government at the centre have always fell on deaf ears. The government led by President Buhari have appeared to be keeping a blind eye, instead, urging the affected persons “to learn to live with their brothers (armed herdsmen).”
No doubt, the attacks have been politicized. It is now a matter of allegations and counter allegations. If it is not given ethnic coloration, it is attributed to religious inclinations. The Governor of Benue State, Ortom has severally been accused by some elements known to be sponsors of the of herdsmen, of masterminding the killings to curry public sympathy.
But the wanton killings and gruesome attacks have persisted and affecting people irrespective of political affiliation. There is no end in sight. The politics is rather forging pervasively and government at the centre is look-warm. The ineptitude has aggravated the killings which, is unleashed as if the country is a lawless entity.
To forestall the attacks and protect the lives of the agrarian people, the Benue State Government through the State Assembly had enacted the Open Grazing and Ranches Prohibition Law, in 2017, to curb the terror, end open grazing and stop the clashes between the herders and farmers.
Unfortunately, the law was viewed differently by the federal government of President Buhari. It felt the legislation was targeted at chasing herdsmen out of the state, a claim they alleged have violated the citizen’s right of herders to move freely.
This is one of the many reasons analysts have adduced, have propelled the federal government to abandon the Benue people, but at the same time, directing so much attention to other affected areas especially the Boko Haram ravaged North Eastern part of the country.
The IDPs in Benue are left to wail and suffer in the camps without tangible assistance from the federal government. The displaced persons have no shelter, food, healthcare and infrastructure.
The Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Dr. Emmanuel Shior has revealed that about 2,500 persons are displaced by the attacks He said more than 200 births in the IDPs camps were known to the agency in 2022.
According to Shior, “the 200 babies were the ones whose births were registered officially.”
“We also recorded several deaths of IDPs either within the camps or outside. Some died through sickness, while others died from attacks unleashed on them while trying to live their normal lives,” he said.
While accusing the federal government for paying attention only to internally displaced people in the northeast to the detriment of others in the country, Shior said Benue was always listed among the 19 northern states, though the state “has nothing to show for it.”
To further elevate the politics, a group of Fulani elite led by the dethroned Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, recently, reportedly wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari in which the group leveled all manner of accusations against Governor Ortom, in a desperate attempt to vilify him.
The group had accused the governor of being responsible for the recent killing of some pastoralists at Akwanaja, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State through a bomb attack.
It was gathered that the Fulani elites had attempted to link the Benue State Livestock Guards with the killings and claimed that the pastoralists were bombed on their way from Benue to Nasarawa after they had retrieved their cattle.
But in a swift reaction, Ortom has denied the allegations, saying “the group maliciously accused me of carrying out genocide against pastoralists. The dethroned Emir Sanusi did not stop at that. He made a video in Hausa in which he maligned me and called on all Fulanis to consider me as their enemy while urging those in Benue State to vote against me during the coming elections.”
Ortom insisted that he will not be in anyway intimidated by anyone to back down from his fight against the invasion of the state by Fulani terrorists from other parts of Africa.
“The group maliciously accused me of carrying out genocide against pastoralists. The dethroned Emir Sanusi did not stop at that. He made a video in Hausa in which he maligned me and called on all Fulanis to consider me as their enemy while urging those in Benue State to vote against me during the coming elections.”
“I consider these allegations and blackmail targeted at my person and the Government of Benue State as part of a grand conspiracy by enemies of the state to eliminate me. Since 2017 when we enacted the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, I have escaped seven assassination attempts.”
According to the Governor, “The recent utterances of some personalities such as Lamido Sanusi have revealed the true identities of those behind the sinister agenda to eliminate me. But my life is in the hands of God and only He can permit anything evil to come my way,” he stated.
“I must state categorically that the Benue State Government under my leadership has no hand in the Akwanaja incident. Linking me with the bomb attack in Doma, Nasarawa State is the most unfair thing anyone would do to me.
“How am I connected or responsible for what did not take place in my state? Akwanaja is in Doma local government area of Nasarawa State, so how do I account for what did not take place in my state? I am Chief Security Officer only in Benue State,” Governor Ortom stated.
“Fulani herdsmen attacks on my people in the last couple of years have caused a devastating humanitarian crisis resulting in the killing of over 6,000 Benue people and the displacement of about two million others with many living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Our people have suffered the organized genocide masked in terrorism, not because they do not know their attackers.
“Benue people know those who are visiting them with unprovoked violence and killings, but as law-abiding citizens of Nigeria, we have chosen to sustain our belief in the conventional security agencies of this country. Now, the enemy has turned round to accuse our people of being the aggressors,” he stated.
One big question on the lips of many persons is whether or not the politics of the attacks would end, and the suffering of the displaced persons can be ameliorated?
Analysts have said that no matter the issues, the federal government is vested with the responsibility of protecting lives and property of the citizenry and that should be executed, not considering ethnic and religious tenets.
The federal government should instead liaise with the state government on the way to finding lasting security solutions so as to stop the blame game, end the politics, the killings and ensure those that are displaced are returned to their ancestral homes to once again live a good life.
At the moment, while the politics has persisted, the killings have continued unabated. The IDPs are left to their fate. Whether there is any hope in sight, it is left to be seen if the federal government take to equity and justice, and collaborate with the state government to savage the ugly situation.