A Civil Society for Peace and Good Governance, has commended the Nigeria Army for their professionalism by bringing the lastly peace solutions in the Benue valley.
The group while commending the Nigeria Army for what it described as its “professional conduct by making sure that peace and sanity was restore in the area, despite the high level of Insecurity across region”.
In a statement sign by its National Chairman, Dr Elijah Shima and National Secretary, Rev Tergnu Nyamvia, said its position came after it carried out independent on-the-spot and fact-finding assessment of the troubled area.
According to the group, Shangev-Tiv Assembly Club House, Gungul, which it noted, had raised alarm of killings of 70 locals by men of the Nigerian Army in Konshisha, is not only faceless but also a mouthpiece of the late militia leader, Gana’s group.
“As civil society organizations working for peace in Benue State and other parts of the North Central states, we are worried about the reports circulating on social media and other media platforms by one group under the name-Shangev-Tiv Assembly (STA) Club House,Gungula group which claimed to be in Konshisha Local Government Area of the state.
“This faceless and unpatriotic group made several spurious and wide allegations of human rights violations against the Nigerian Army. They went further to claim that 70 people were killed by the Nigerian Military in the local government.
“While we must state clearly that we are not the mouthpiece of the Nigerian Military or its spokespersons but civil society organizations working for the common good of the society, we owe the public the duty to always speak the truth.
“In line with our mandate, we have gone to the local government area and visited most of the affected villages to ascertain the veracity of this information before making our findings to the general public,” the statement said.
The group noted that after several enquiries from locals and elites in the affected local government had shown that there is no group with such a name not only in the local government but also the entire Benue state.
It said, “We can also confirm that the few militia men who engaged the soldiers in a shotout during the military operation were neutralised accordingly, no any innocent lifes was lost, it added.
” We observed that the operation was only targeted at the criminal elements causing pains to the good people of the Benue state.
“We wish to commend the Executive Governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom, who has always stood with his people at all times, for coming out openly in defence of the truth,that no 70 people were killed anywhere in the state by the military.
“The governor was bold enough to also described the said group as faceless which is what they truly are.
“As the chief security officer of the state, he gets firsthand information on every situation in his state and we completely stand with him for speaking the truth in defence of peace and security instead of towing the line of sentiments as being displayed by some selfish individuals.”