Over recent years, Benue State has been one of the hotspots in the country where local farmers and nomadic Fulani herdsmen have frequently clashed with deadly consequences. Livestock have frequently destroyed crops, fuelling local anger and in response, Fulani herdsmen have unleashed mayhem on such communities using automatic weapons like AK47s.
Lamenting the frequent loss of life that has resulted from the brutal Fulani attacks, the Abuja-based Club De Pals, made up of young professionals from the Tiv extraction, has faulted President Buhari inaction over the matter. It has also accused President Buhari of marginalising and neglecting the Tiv people despite their overwhelming support for him and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections.
In an open letter to the president, Club De Pals expressed concern that it was becoming worrisome that despite the global attention which the genocidal attacks in some parts of the state had generated, the federal government continued to pay lip service to a crisis that had claimed several lives. Over 3,000 people have reportedly been killed and property worth hundreds of millions of naira destroyed since the crisis first broke out in 2012.
According to the group, President Buhari and his APC-led federal government needed to urgently treat the Benue crisis with the same seriousness being deployed to tackling the insurgency in the northeast. It added that the killings and destructions in Benue State were as devastating as the Boko Haram operations in the northeast.
“The latest round of the crisis which started in Agatu Local Government Area with the killing of over 400 people in one single attack, has spread to Tarka, Makurdi, Guma, Logo, Katsina-Ala, Buruku, Gwer West, Ukum and Kwande Local Government Areas of the state,” the group stressed.
Club De Pals also noted that the attacks on innocent farmers by Fulani herdsmen who moved freely with sophisticated weapons in the state were coming at a time the state Governor Samuel Ortom had just carried out an amnesty programme where dozens of arms were retrieved. They therefore condemned the provocative comments by the spokesman of the Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Banire, that the Fulanis were responsible for the attacks in revenge for the killing of their cattle.
Club De Pals insisted that it was rather becoming clearer that the adventure of Fulanis into the state was a well-planned scheme to destabilise Benue people and possibly snatch their ancestral lands by some expansionists who were only operating under the guise of herdsmen. They also condemned the recent statement by the inspector-general of police, Solomon Arase during his visit to Agatu community that he could not see the bodies of the 400 people massacred in 10 villages.
Club De Pals also lamented that non-appointment of Tiv sons and daughters in the Buhari government was only a testimony to the fact of their neglect even in times of difficulty as being experienced in the Benue killings. While assuring President Buhari of Benue people's support for his government, Club De Pals however demanded the appointment of Tiv sons and daughters in federal positions, especially the Federal Executive Council and headship of federal parastatals and agencies.
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