DAREDEVIL Fulani herdsmen, on Friday, shot
at the convoy of former Senate President, David Mark, during his assessment
tour of the destroyed Agatu communities in Benue State.
The former Senate President, however,
escaped unhurt.
Mark was in company with the erstwhile
Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro; a member House of the Representatives
for Ohimini/Otukpo, Constituency, Honourable Ezekiel Adaji, security aides,
journalists and party supporters during the tour of the eight communities.
The communities are Aila, Akwu, Okokolo,
Adagbo, Akwu, Ogboju and Odugbeho, which have been destroyed by Fulani
herdsmen.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the convoy
was at Akwu community when some fleeing herdsmen sighted the convoy and shot at
it, causing members of the lawmaker’s convoy to scamper for safety.
The security men attached to the convoy
were ordered to remain calm and not exchange fire. The former Senate President
thereafter ordered that the convoy continue to move.
Saturday Tribune observed that the eight
communities were totally destroyed and deserted except Odugbeho, which was
again attacked on Thursday evening.
Speaking to some survivors in one of the
communities, Mark regretted the wanton destructions, which he described as
“unimaginable” and called on the people to remain calm.
One of the community’s youth leaders,
Michael, who spoke at Aila, lamented what he called the porous security in
Agatu Local Government Area and asked the former Senate President to tell the
president to remove the soldiers as “we are competent now to defend ourselves.”
The youth in the communities accused state
governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, of not visiting the affected areas. They added
that when the deputy governor, Benson Abounu, visited the areas, he only
stopped at Apa, where the displaced persons are camped.
But Mark appealed to the youth to keep the
peace and remain law-abiding as he promised to relate what he had seen to the
government for prompt action.
Meanwhile, Governor Ortom has raised the
alarm on the escalation of attacks on his people by the Fulani herdsmen.
The governor, in raising the alarm,
declared that Boko Haram’s terrorism was becoming a child’s play, compared to
the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen.
Governor Ortom disclosed this on Friday in
Makurdi while administering oath of office on the President, Customary Court of
Appeal (CCA), Justice Cosmos Idye and a High Court judge, Justice Augustine
Ityonyiman.
He disclosed that the Federal Government
had approved the deployment of soldiers to the state to end the lingering
farmers/herdsmen crisis in the state.
He said the invasion of some communities by
Fulani herdsmen in the state was becoming worrisome adding that “more Local
Government Areas are being attacked on daily basis.”
“As we speak, the Fulanis have started
moving out of Agatu to other parts of the state.
“What we are witnessing today in Benue is
more than what happened in the North-East,” he said.
He said that Agatu, Logo, Tarka, Buruku,
and Kwande were all under attack by the Fulani mercenaries.
Ortom charged the judiciary nationwide to
support government anti-corruption crusade through effective and timely
dispensation of justice.
In a remark, the CCA President pledged to
uphold the Constitution and judicial ethics in the discharge of his duties.
Also, presidential spokes person, Femi
Adesina, told Saturday Tribune, on Friday, that the problem is a perennial
crisis.
According to him, there was peace in the
past because there were cattle grazing routes but with the Federal Government
working in conjunction with states and local governments, peace will be
restored in the communities.
“Security is a continuous process. It is
the duty of every government to guarantee safety of lives and property. This
government is committed to that,” Adesina said.
Let’s stop eating cow meat —8-yr-old
survivor
“If I have my way, no one should be eating
cow meat again. If this happens, I hope it will stop the killing in Agatu.”
These were the words of an eight-year-old boy, Aliyu Audu, in Ojantele, one of
the three camps designated for displaced persons in the wake of the crisis that
rocked Agatu a few weeks ago.
The situation now is that there are
soldiers deployed to provide security in all the settlements but my people are
afraid to return because there are no shelters to lay their heads under. Again,
the cows are still grazing in most of the villages and they constitute threat
to my people who are longing to return to normal life.”
It is only a fool that will think this is a
simple issue. These people are heavily armed with assault rifles and other
military class arms that should not be in individuals’ hands and nobody questions
them. If they need these weapons to protect their cattle, farmers also need the
weapons to protect their farms from destruction just as we all need same to
protect our lives and the lives of our loved ones. They move with AK47 and AK49
pump actions and nobody questions them.
“The IGP came out to make a mockery of us
that these people are not from Nigeria. Yet they are killing Nigerian citizens
in Nigeria and Nigerian government cannot do anything other than to take
farmers’ lands and give them as grazing reserves. What happens to ranching of
cows as is done all over the world? Just as they sell the cow to earn a living,
that is how the farmers sell their farm produce to earn a decent living. One
should not flourish at the expense of another. But since some people have
interest in what they are doing, nobody is talking,” Igbalagh submitted.
Recounting his ordeal, 13-year-old Anthony
Ochakpa said he was at school in Daanacha when they were informed that his
village was under attack. He lost his parents and three siblings in the attack.
He is currently under the care of a distant relative but the memory of his
injured father who died of the machete and bullet injuries he sustained in the
attack at the hospital a few days later still haunts him.
“When they told us that my village was
under attack, I was afraid. All by siblings and my mother were killed and my
father died two days later at the hospital. I still remember how they cut his
body with cutlasses and the open wounds he told me were gunshots. I can’t
forget that.”
At Santa Maria Catholic Hospital, where
many of the IDPs are still writhing in pain, it was one sad story after the
other. An eight-month-old baby, Theresa Tersoo, shot on the thigh with her
mother when armed Fulani militia invaded their house on December 14, 2015 was
lying hopelessly on her mat when Saturday Tribune visited the hospital.
Her mother said that they were deep asleep
when the gunmen invaded the house and opened fire on them, killing two members
of the family instantly.
The medical officer of the hospital, Mr
Isaac Akperekpe, said there were three severe cases that needed immediate
referral to tertiary hospitals but the hospital was just managing them because
the victims could not afford to pay the required fees which run in millions of
Naira.
The medical officer added that they had
treated and discharged over 400 victims between 2014 and 2015, out of which 23
died while on admission in the hospital.
“Because ours is a faith-based
organisation, many people preferred to be treated here. We had cases here that
ordinarily we would have referred them to other hospitals, but they refused to
go on referral because they can’t afford to pay. You know they have just return
after attacks on them and they have nothing on them.
“Our financial position is seriously coming
down. We have exhausted medical stocks we have on victims of crisis and we can
no longer cope because of the volume of patients we do receive on a daily basis
following renewed attacks on the returnees,” he said.
According to him, the hospital has received
over 100 victims of attacks so far this year and the number is still rising as
victims are being brought to the hospital on a daily basis.
Mr Albert, a.k.a. Presidoo, a Nigerian
Brewery distributor, also in Wukari, told Saturday Tribune that his
consignment, which arrived in Wukari a day before crisis broke out in the town
and others in store totalling N25.12 million, was destroyed by the attackers.
Albert, who now ekes out a living selling
recharge cards through a local restaurant around Takum junction in Wukari, said
he had to start from the scratch to take care of his wife and three kids.
“My family members have been putting
pressure on me to relocate, but Taraba is like a home and I can’t just
relocate. I am trusting in God that I will make it here again and I want to
appeal to both the state and the federal governments to assist us,” he stated.
The effect of the two-year-old crisis with
pockets of killings still being witnessed in places like Gassol and Bali local
government areas has left farms deserted and small communities like Dan-Anacha,
Sabon-Gida, Ananum, Ibua and other towns are today not bubbling with human and
economic activities on account of the crisis.
Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, has
consistently asked the people of the state to give him peace and he would give
them development. On account of this, most IDPs have returned to their homes
but not without challenges. There are cries from many returnees that their
crops which they managed to plant to keep life going have become grazing fields
of the herders who sometimes kill them if they dare to stop them.
The state government recently suspended
some traditional rulers in some of the troubled areas who were seen to be
collaborating with the terrorists to continue the restiveness in their areas.
Tiv traditional leader in Bali Local
Government Area of the state, whose people were killed and forced out of the
state, Zaki David Gbaa (the Ter-Bali), commenting on the condition of his
people, lamented the challenges facing his subjects.
“From November last year to date, we
recorded over nine separate attacks with more than 16 deaths. Our children are
out of school and most of my people are without food and shelter. We have cases
of malaria and other diseases which are killing our children.
Taraba
Taraba is one of the most endowed states in
the country with more than 50 mineral resources and a fertile soil that
supports the cultivation of varieties of crops ranging from tree plants such as
cocoa and avocado, palm tree to cereals such as maize, rice, sorghum, soybeans,
millet and groundnuts.
The favourable atmosphere in some parts and
the land mass attract a lot of farmers to the state. The state, over the years,
has suffered from communal and inter-tribal crises but this latest onslaught by
the Fulani “terrorists” that has lasted for over two years now has been
described by many as the worst in the history of the state.
Since December 2013, armed Fulani men have
been invading the state through the Nasarawa and Benue axis. They have killed
more than 1,484 people in the state between December 2013 and June 2015,
according to a report of the Nigeria Security Conflict and Analysis Network
(NSCAN).
The report indicated that over 500,000
people have been forced out of their homes and made to take refuge in
neighbouring Benue State, even as over 2,400 others are living in camps in Bali
and other areas across the state.
A visit by Saturday Tribune to the four
camps in Bali, located at Legislative Quarters, St. Paul Catholic Church, NKST
Church and Tiv Traditional Council Hall where over 2,400 Internally Displaced
Persons are currently living, revealed a pathetic story of Nigerians in their
own land.
Seventy-three-year-old Mrs Esther Nachigh
lamented that life had become meaningless since the killing of her husband and
two children by the marauding Fulani men.
“Life has been terrible for us. Most of our
people who were killed during the crisis were not buried because the attackers
laid siege to our communities. Most women are now widows and children orphans.
Many have been maimed and left vulnerable. Look at the condition of our
children. Most of them are without clothes. We can’t even feed them. Our people
are still being killed and we can’t even recover their corpses for burial.
“Despite government’s efforts at ending the
crisis, our lives are still not safe here. We are Nigerians, not foreigners and
if we can’t be guaranteed security in our land, then it is unfortunate,” she
lamented.
Mr Adamu Magaji, a victim who lost three
sons and two teenage daughters to the swords of the “terrorists,” narrated his
ordeal to Saturday Tribune.
“I have been in Taraba all my life. My
seven children were born in the state. We started hearing about the attacks by
Fulani herdsmen but we never imagined we could be victims since we had not
provoked them in any way. To my greatest surprise, they attacked our village in
the dead of night and killed more than 50 persons, including five of my
children. My children did nothing wrong. Our homes and farms were destroyed as
we ran for our lives. Life has never been the same again. My wife died a little
less than a year later because of heartbreak.”
The Fulani herdsmen have been named the
forth deadliest terrorist group globally, ranking next to ISIS, Boko Haram and
the al-Qaeda.
Their activities were hitherto
predominantly herding their cattle and because of the nomadic nature of their
lifestyle, they could be found in almost all parts of the country where there
is grazing for their cattle. In recent years, however, they have exhibited such
a high proclivity to violence and other criminal tendencies such as kidnapping,
armed robbery, cattle rustling and other crimes.
In Taraba, like other states, their path is
simply trailed with blood and tears of helpless farmers and traders.
When the terror group attacked Agatu
village in Benue State, recently where it massacred over 500 people and sacked
eight villages, the attention of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon
Arase, was caught and he visited the scene. There the IGP alleged that those
perpetrating the dastardly acts were not Nigerians but foreigners who take
advantage of the country’s porous borders to come in and graze their cattle.
According to Ali Yohana, who narrowly
escaped being killed by the “terrorists” when his village was attacked last
November, there is more to the problem than provision of pastures for the
cattle.
“What is happening now is a revival of the
Uthman Dan Fodio jihad of over a century ago. Fulani people are very vindictive
and could wait for any length of time to accomplish their demonic plans. You
will notice that the worst hit areas are those around the then Middle Belt that
resisted the jihad. That is why they are targeting Benue, parts of Taraba and
other areas.
“The attacks are on the increase now that
Buhari is the president and you can see that his body language approves of what
they are doing. He has not even come out once to condemn the attacks or at
least condole with the families of the victims,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Isaac Igbalagh,
a secondary school teacher, alleged that the herdsmen were only carrying out
the bidding of their bosses in high places.
For most farmers, traders and other
residents of Benue and Taraba states, “Fulani herdsmen” is synonymous with
bloodshed and wanton destruction. Fulani terrorists parading as herdsmen have
continued to kill, maim and cause destructions with impunity.
The atrocities have received little
attention from the authorities probably because of the activities of Boko Haram
which have dominated the media space.
For some time now, Audu has not been able
to go to school because of constant attacks on the communities in the affected
local government area of Benue State. He was panting when Saturday Tribune
beckoned to him for a brief interview. The boy had been kicking a ball around
with his mates on an uneven ground. He paused to say something in Agatu
dialect, which was promptly interpreted by a guide as “oga, please, I am
enjoying football.” Perhaps oblivious of the happenings in their environment,
the young boys continued to play football with great enthusiasm.
After much persuasion and the promise of a
token, Aliyu with his friends, covered in sweats and taking short fast shallow
breaths all at the same time, rushed to respond to our correspondent’s
questions. Suddenly, one of them, Joe, who later claimed to be nine years old,
begged the others to allow him to be the spokesman. “The last time we went to
school was... hem... hem... November last year, because our parents said that
Fulani herdsmen might invade our schools and kill us all. I was at home one day
when my father rushed to where we were playing football and asked me to run. As
we ran, I fell and each time I did, my father helped me back up and encouraged
me run very fast. All I was hearing was the shout of ‘Fulani! Fulani! Fulani!’”
As he spoke, his mates longed to speak,
too, intermittently interrupting the conversation. Joe then beckoned to Aliyu
to speak about their stay in the camp. Aliyu shouted: “We are enjoying this
place. We play football and we run around but we do not have enough food to
eat. Unlike when I was in my village, here, we share whatever is given to us by
people who come to give us things.”
The boys may be oblivious of their
situation, occasioned by Fulani herdsmen’s invasion of their communities, but
the elderly are groaning and wishing for this lot to pass quickly.
One Mr Sunday, who wore a gloomy face as
Saturday Tribune approached him, said, “What do you want me to say? The look of
this environment should tell you what we are passing through. Imagine yourself
with a family of eight managing life and praying for better times only for
beasts in human skins to suddenly invade your community and dislodge you and
your wife and kids from where you have lived for decades. What manner of a
country is ours, being turned into a refugee in your own land?!
“Indeed, life in the camps is not different
from prison. You don’t have privacy, tens of people crammed in a place. In most
cases, you cannot sleep because of the noise. It is more pathetic for some of
us with one disease or another. At a point, the food items that were brought by
some public-spirited individuals, some horrible boys came in the night and
stole everything. There are no medical facilities. There are mosquitoes here
and there. Children are falling sick every day.
“As I am talking to you, our communities
have been taken over by herdsmen. At times I wonder if Nigeria is not a lawless
nation, or how can this lawlessness be allowed to go on? Perhaps it will get to
a stage where everyone will be armed to defend themselves if the government can
no longer provide security for us.”
According to Sunday, the Fulani herdsmen
have been attacking the Agatu people since 2013 virtually on a monthly basis.
He noted that efforts to forge a harmonious relationship with the Fulani people
had been futile – “If it is this community today, it is another tomorrow.”
Lady Veronica could not fathom the
rationale behind the constant invasion of her community by the Fulani herdsmen.
According to her, “for many years now, no one has been able to sleep with their
two eyes closed because of the constant attacks on our communities. They used
to come on Sundays but the recent attacks occurred during the week. They came
in droves and unleashed terror on us.”
Lady Veronica appealed to the Federal
Government to stop the attacks on the Agatu people, calling for adequate
security in the area, particularly the riverine areas where, she said, the
invaders always use as launch pads.
Sunday called on the Federal Government to
deploy naval men to constantly patrol the riverine areas and establish military
posts so as to keep the invaders away from the communities.
The chairman of the caretaker committee of
Agatu Local Government Area, Mr Joseph Ngbede, appealed to the federal and
Benue state governments to provide shelter for his people whose villages were
destroyed by the invading Fulani herdsmen. Ngbede, in a telephone interview,
disclosed that since the deployment of soldiers and mobile policemen to the
affected communities, the internally displaced Agatu people, who are currently
taking refuge in camps, have been willing to go back home but they have nothing
to return to.
He lamented that the presence of thousands
of cows owned by the Fulani herders in the communities remains a threat to his
people.
“We commend the governor for his efforts to
ensure that peace returns, but there are some people sabotaging his efforts
because of the atrocities they committed during and after the crisis which they
want to keep under cover.
“Most of our lands have either been sold
out or taken over by other people. On a daily basis now, people are being
brought in trucks and made to settle on our lands all in a bid to stop our
people from returning to their ancestral homes. Senator Bwacha representing
Taraba South in this Eighth Assembly has already raised a motion to this
effect.
“We make bold to tell the people behind
this that they are day dreaming. We are compiling such cases and we will soon
take them to court. We are indigenes of this place and nobody can intimidate
us,” he said.
The hinterlands of Dan-Anacha, Sabon-Gida,
BornonKurku, Naguru and other interior villages, according to reports, are
still regarded as no-go areas, especially for farmers.
Torkula Dooior, a resident of Dan-Anacha,
lamenting the loss of his farm to grazers, said the Fulani herdsmen had
converted their farms into grazing fields.
“We are back to square one because the
Fulani herdsmen have grazed over our crops and any attempt to resist them is
tantamount to inviting death. Just recently Mr Emmanuel and his wife, Mbawuan,
were slaughtered after they resisted some armed Fulani men from grazing on
their farms.”
But the Fulani herdsmen denied any
wrongdoing, let alone being behind the killings. According to the chairman of
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Mafindi Umar Danburam, Tiv
and Jukun have been rustling their cattle in the past years in Wukari and
Takum.
According to Mafindi, over 17,000 cattle
belonging to the Fulani herdsmen were rustled between 2003 and 2015 in Wukari
and Takum axis of the state, querying that “how do you take someone’s
livelihood and you expect the person to be quiet?”
“We have lost a lot. 500 cattle of my
people were rustled in Jibu ward of Wukari around March last year. Same period,
at Kashimbilla in Takum Local Government Area, about 200 cattle were rustled by
people suspected to be Tiv. So, you see the problem. We are not criminals or
troublemakers as we are being branded,” he said.
Stakeholders in the state have attributed
the persistent killings in Taraba on the issue of land, but Mr Freeman Tar
disputed this narrative.
Chairman Muslim Council of Taraba State,
Inuwa Jauro, who is a Fulani man, said many people had mistaken the crisis in
the southern and central Taraba for a religious crisis.
“What is happening in Southern Taraba is
not a religious crisis; it is on land that they are fighting. The origins of
the area don’t want people coming from outside to come and settle on their
land. Anybody who tells you it is a religious crisis is lying,” he explained.
But Mr Tar Freeman, who is a scholar,
argued that those killing people were from states like Katsina, Gombe, Kano and
Zamfera among others and were bringing their people to take over land in
Taraba. He insisted that there is a conspiracy of ethnic cleansing against the
Tiv farmers in Taraba.
While the blame game continues,
stakeholders want the Federal Government to come to the aid of the people who
have been abandoned to their fate with no hope of rescue in sight.
The Catholic Bishop of Jalingo Diocese,
Most Rev. Dr. Charles Hammawa has said the killings in the state have adversely
affected the economy of Taraba and Nigeria.
Hammawa wants the Federal Government to
intervene in the herdsmen/farmers crisis in the country and permanently bring
the ugly development which has killed many to an end.
“Taraba was badly affected by crisis
between 2013 and 2015. Many lives and property worth hundreds of millions of
naira were lost and even now, killings are still going on in Bali and Gassol
local government areas.
“Churches, Mosques and other precious
property were destroyed. We the Catholic Church alone lost seven main parishes
and over 3000 out stations were burnt during the crisis. The church has tried
to reach out to the people affected by the crisis, by providing food and
shelter and other things to alleviate their suffering.
“But, you see, the Church and the state
government cannot do it alone. I therefore, appeal to General TY Danjuma (rtd),
who is an illustrious son of Taraba and chairman of the federal government
committee on the rehabilitation of the Northeast affected by Boko Haram to
include Taraba in the rehabilitation programme.”
The bishop wondered why other areas in the
state are relatively peaceful with exception of Gassol and Bali chiefdoms and
called on the traditional rulers of Gassol and Bali to make more efforts to end
killings in their domain and to foster peaceful coexistence among diverse
religious, ethnic and political groups in the state.
