Ameh Ejekwonyilo
Concerned Gboko Indigenes of Benue state, yesterday petitioned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that soldiers attached to Dangote Cement Plc killed seven members of the community and injuring several others for defecating in the bush around the company.
The group, led by its leader, Yandev Amaabai, while submitting the petition to the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Bem Angwe, said the problem started on March 18 when one Terhile Jirbo went to defecate in the bush around the company and one of the soldiers demanded that he should remove his faeces with his mouth.
He told the NHRC boss that it was the inability of the young man to comply with the, “unlawful order”, angered the soldier who shot him in the mouth with an AK 47 rifle, adding that the victim is being treated in a private hospital in Gboko.
“It was after the severally wounded young man was taken to the hospital that aggrieved youths who started protesting were directly shot at by the soldiers attached to the Gboko plant of the Dangote Cement Company”.
“Seven defenceless, unarmed youths, including a young lady, were cut down in their prime, while several others with varying degrees of injuries are being treated in various hospitals in Gboko”, he said.
The group urged the human rights commission to set up a high profile commission on inquiry into the activities of the Dangote Cement Plc, Gboko plant, to uncover the circumstances surrounding the killing and maiming of the Tiv youths by Soldiers assigned to the plant on March 18.
The concerned Gboko Indigenes who want the relevant authorities to fish out and prosecute the soldiers that carried out the unprovoked murderous attacks also demanded the sum of N20 billion be paid to families of the victims by the Federal Government as compensatory damages.
Responding, the NHRC boss commended the delegation, which comprised of
the Vice Chairman of Gboko local government of Benue state, the leader
of the council and the councilors for not taking law into their hands
in addressing the problem.
Prof. Angwe promised that the commission would take up the matter and
investigate it to ensure that justice prevailed.