It’s like the prevailing peace Benue had enjoyed in the last one year is about to be truncated by the recent influx of armed herdsmen into the state for grazing despite a law prohibiting such. DANIEL AGBO writes.
Just recently, Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, raised alarm over the influx of herdsmen with cattle and sophisticated weapons into some local government areas of the state.
The influx is happening even as the state has a law that prohibits open grazing and provides only for ranching of livestock.
Rated as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world, analysts say the herdsmen have no regard for law and constituted authority as they are daring and had attacked two governors of the state since they launched their offensive on Benue.
Had attacked Suswam as gov
The first was former governor, Gabriel Suswam, and just recently Governor Samuel Ortom while on his farm.On March 11 2014, some suspected Fulani herdsmen opened fire on the convoy of Suswam as governor when he was on his way for an on- the-spot assessment of damage the herdsmen had done to some communities in Guma Local Government Area.
At Ukpam, after the governor went round to see fresh corpses of those killed in an early morning attack by herdsmen, the military accompanying his convoy advised then governor not to go further but he insisted and they continued.The military turned their vehicles and returned to their barrack abandoning the governor to his fate.
But while the governor was on his way to Gbajimba, headquarters of the local government, on reaching Umenger the herdsmen were seen grazing on a resident’s farms as well as burning houses.
On sighting the governor’s convoy, they opened fire, but the policemen and NSCDC who continued with the governor on the journey responded.
However, when it became obvious that the fire power of the herdsmen was superior to that of the security men, the governor and his convoy zoomed off. The governor was traveling with top government officials and then Benue state commissioner of police, Adams Audu (now late) and some journalists to assess damage in villages raided by the herdsmen.
His administration faced the security challenge brought on the state by the herdsmen his remaining days as governor.
Also Gov Ortom
Just few weeks ago, Governor Ortom was also reportly attacked by the same herdsmen who came to his farm at Adaka, a suburb in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, to graze their animals.
Governor Ortom had while speaking on a live radio programme of Radio Benue, disclosed that he narrowly escaped death when the suspected armed herdsmen shot at him on his farm at Adeke along Makurdi-Naka road.
He said he had gone to his farm in the outskirts of Makurdi town when the armed herdsmen besieged the vicinity and opened fire.
According to him, the same suspected armed herdsmen reportedly attacked the Livestock Guard, shot and deflated the tyres of their vehicles.He further said it took the intervention of the joint military security team, Operation Whirl Stroke, (OPWS) who came on time to saved the situation.
Mark as Senate president suffered same fate
Similarly former Senate president, David Mark, was attacked in Agatu also in Benue when he had gone to the area see the damage and speak with those displaced by the herders.His convoy was shot at by Fulani herdsmen who had also attacked and killed over 50 residents of Agatu Local Government Area.
Their impunity
It could be recalled that Benue since 2014 has not known peace due to the activities of herdsmen in the state.
Several people have fallen to the swords of the marauding herdsmen who have also destroyed property worth over a billion naira and displaced hundreds of thousands of men, women and children.
The herdsmen had several times reportedly threatened bloodbath on Benue if anyone dares prevent them from grazing in the state.
A Fulani group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, was also reported to have threatened to resist the Benue State Grazing Law and also invaded the state.
True to their words, suspected herdsmen on January 1, 2018 invaded some communities on the border with Nasarawa state killing 73 persons.
Several people were also killed thereafter, others maimed, children made to become orphans and many women widowed as the herdsmen also sacked several communities in about 10 local government areas of the state.
Guma, the home local government of Governor Ortom and Suswam’s Logo, were not spared.
The herdsmen also attacked and destroyed the ancestral home of the late Tor Tiv Alfred Torkula and settled in most of the villages sacked.The security circle was not also spared as between January 1 and April 2018, more than ten of them were killed.
They robbed, raped, burnt houses, murdered people and captured many communities some of which they have occupied till date.
The establishment of OPWS, a joint security outfit, comprising the military, police, DSS and NSCDC, controlled by the defence headquarters brought some relief to the state.
2019 was relatively peaceful with less activities of the marauders who usually come during the dry season to graze their animals.But with the recent influx of cattle in the state, tension is mounting and there is heavy anxiety in the air that the herdsmen may be planning for a showdown.
Ortom/Benue people’s concern
Speaking recently in Makurdi, Governor Ortom lamented that the influx of the armed herdsmen into the state was becoming a source of concern and worry and needed to be checked urgently.
He said the state government was doing everything necessary to arrest the situation, but the marauders were deliberately coming into the state to cause problems.
According to him, “We are doing everything possible to arrest the situation. These people are deliberately coming into the state. And I have always maintained that armed herdsmen, ISWA, ISIS and Boko Haram are the same thing and they are out to prosecute the same agenda.
“There are no two ways about that. Even when we went for the North Central Security meeting. l told them the same thing.
“Miyetti Allah leadership should also be arrested because majority of all the kidnappings you see around here are carried out by armed herdsmen.“They are creating a lot of insecurity and hardship for the people. The federal government must ensure they are arrested and prosecuted just like we are arresting those involved in open grazing in Benue.
“The situation has become a big challenge because the farmers in Benue state are not allowed to have cutlasses but herdsmen are allowed to carry AK47.”It is not correct; we cannot allow them to get into Benue and continue to create problems for us.
“I don’t have control of the coercive force, but the military Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, has done well by returning relative peace but we want them to do it more.
“Our Livestock Guards do not have guns to confront the armed herdsmen which is a big challenge. But we have been working with the Civil Defence personnel and the trained Agro Rangers who are armed and we would collaborate with them to also help us ensure that herdsmen occupying our communities are moved out to allow the displaced persons return home to a secure environment.“Many have asked why we still leave people in the Internally Displaced Persons, (IDP) camps, but how do I send people home to go and die in this situation?” he asked.
Can Agro Rangers make a difference?
The question now on many people’s mind is whether the coming of Agro-Rangers, the unit created in the NSCDC will further assist in clearing the villages from the danger posed by the herdsmen.
Some people question whether they would match the firepower of the herdsmen who seem to have more superior weapons.
But the Benue commander of NDCDC, Kamilu Ado Isah, while speaking at the commissioning of the Agro-Rangers, noted that the unit was collaboratively initiated by the Federal Ministries of Interior and Agriculture and Rural Development with the main aim of addressing observed security challenges in the agricultural and agro-allied industries in Nigeria, especially in rural communities.
He said the functions of the unit is to arrest the escalating conflict between herders and farming communities, provide security for all agricultural investments in the country thereby ensuring a secure food value chain from the farmers all the way to the final consumers.
He said further that the unit would also work to reduce or eliminate the present high risk of investing in agriculture resulting from activities of bandits, terrorists, assailants, kidnappers, miscreants, cattle rustlers etc, thereby creating an attractive atmosphere and restoring confidence in the sector that could attract foreign direct investments (FDI).
“With the usual mass influx of herdsmen during dry seasons and the attendant clashes with farmers in the state, the immediate commencement of operation by Agro-Rangers is crucial and timely,” he added.
