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In a classic case of fiddling while Rome burns, President Buhari was busy hosting APC governors to strategise on how to neutralise opposition within the party to see him clinch the party ticket for the 2019 election, governor Samuel Ortom was vacationing in China while the Senate was busy with the Dino Melaye and police saga on the day the deadly Fulani pastoralists or terrorists were decimating Benue state without resistance.
In the latest attack, about 22 persons were gruesomely murdered by the marauding herdsmen in Daudu communities in Guma local government area of the state.
This is coming 24 hours after two Catholic priests and seventeen of their parishioners were slaughtered in an early morning raid in Ayar Mbalom in Gwer-East local government area of Benue state.
The attack, according to eye witnesses, started around 5.30am and targeted the St. Ignatius Quasi Parish in Ukpor-Mbalom as worshipers came in for their morning devotion. The herdsmen also ransacked the entire village, setting ablaze over 80 houses and destroying foodstuffs and anything in sight.
Despite the frequent reassurances by the government and the launching of a military exercise – Ayem Akpatuma (Cat Race), to end the killings, the Fulani herdsmen have remained unperturbed and have intensified the killings in the state, moving from communities and towns bordering Nassarawa state into the Benue hinterlands.
In fact, the intensity and ferocity of the attacks have increased as it appears the military exercise, which was initially billed to last for six weeks but have been increased by two months, succeeded in caging the people while giving free movement to the herdsmen to continue their killings with little or no resistance.
Over the last two weeks alone, about 100 people have been killed by the herdsmen in various parts of the state.
“With the magnitude of the crisis we have at hand and, given the on-going killings despite Exercise Ayem A’ Kpatuma, we appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government to convert the exercise to a full military operation to chase out the killer herdsmen from our communities,” the governor, Samuel Ortom pleaded during one of his frequent visits to the IDP camps in the state. “There is no doubt that the level of killings and destruction of property in Benue by herdsmen is comparable to what is happening in the Northeast and, with the rains fast approaching, the humanitarian crisis may get out of hand because many of the IDPs sleep outside, and we all know what that means if the rains set in.”
But even the governor abandoned ship and went off to China on a two-week holiday to cool off while his people are still being killed.
A day before he left though, he took time to admonish the over 175,000 Internally Displaced Persons, being harboured in ramshackle camps across the state, to return to their homes and use stones to defend themselves against the Fulani invaders.
He said his advice has become necessary because he was tired of keeping IDPs in camps and the state government no longer has the funds to sustain the camps:
“David in the Bible used ordinary stone to defeat his enemy, it is now time for you to stay at home and use the stone in your homes to defend yourself instead of running away,” Ortom charged the hapless IDPs.
“I believe in the rule of law, equity and fairness, but I cannot continue to keep IDPs and l can’t afford to have another IDPs in Gwer West” he said.
President Buhari however, was unperturbed by the killings as he was busy hosting APC governors at the presidential villa to discuss his re-election bid and plans for the party’s convention. His media team just issued a statement condemning the killings and that was it.
The seeming incapacity or unwillingness to confront the killings and its perpetrators frontally shows the president has conflicting roles as patron of Miyetti Allah and the president of the country.
Rising from a meeting at the house of its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, Ondo state, the Yoruba cultural group warned that if the president failed to choose one of the two responsibilities in the interest of the country, the National Assembly should initiate impeachment proceedings against the president for dereliction of duty and also for spending money without budgetary approval.
Meanwhile the House of Representatives have summoned the president to appear before them to brief them on the security situation in Benue state.
Meanwhile, the Tiv Area Traditional Council, TATC, has told President Muhammadu Buhari that he would not get a single vote in the state in 2019. They said if “he loves his political future,” he should put a lasting solution to the ongoing killings in the state by Fulani herdsmen.
The pan-cultural organisation gave the warning while rejecting the decision by the Federal Government to designate cattle colonies in different parts of the country.
Speaking on Tuesday, the legal adviser of TATC, Chief Edward Ashiekaa, also disclosed that the organisation has concluded plans to report to the global community and International Criminal Court, ICC, the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen, including the recent killings of natives in Benue State.
Ashiekaa said, “Of course, Buhari is a Fulani man, he has cattle. But if he loves his political future, he should tackle this matter and bring a solution once and for all because Benue state voted massively for him (in 2015); now, if he contests again (in 2019) and vote is cast, he will get zero vote from Benue State.
Meanwhile members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other opposition parties in the House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously aligned to condemn the inordinate attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari administration towards ending the killings of innocent Nigerians across the country by killer herdsmen.
According to the House resolution, President Buhari as the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, is expected to appear in person before the House in a closed door session, to brief the Lower Chamber on the measures put in place to end insecurity challenges, since the service chiefs have failed to comply with the previous order.
The lawmakers, who spoke during the debate on the recent killings in Benue State, condemned the alleged compromise by the security agencies also called for immediate sack of all the security chiefs and appointment of competent personnel.
In demonstration of their disaffection on the level of sacrilege committed across the country, the lawmakers resolved to suspend legislative activities for three days in solidarity with families of hundreds of Nigerians gruesomely killed by the terrorists who hide under the guise of herdsmen.
While giving update on the House resolution, Abdulrasak Namdas, chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity disclosed that the leadership of the House will determine the three days declared by the House.
He explained that the House resolved to summon the President since previous engagement with the security chiefs yielded no positive result.
He disclosed that the House will follow due process and line of engagement between the Legislature and Executive on the summon earlier issued to the President on the payment of $496 million for procurement of Super Tucano Aircfraft from the United States Government, without National Assembly’s approval.
While noting that the invitation extended to the President should not be misconstrued to be a sign of disrespect to the office of the President, Namdas maintained that the issue of insecurity is no longer about APC, PDP or SDP.
He maintained that the House is “tired of observing one minute silence on daily basis” as a result of incompetence being demonstrated by some highly placed Nigerians saddled with the responsibility of protecting the sanctity of lives of the citizenry.
When asked what will be the next line of action if the President fails to honour the invitation, Namdas said: “we cannot presume that he will not come.”
In his lead debate, Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue) who sponsored the motion, expressed concern over the “allegations that Army personnel deployed from the 72 Army Battalion in Makurdi, the Benue state capital to quell the incessant inhuman murder of indigenes of Gwer-East, Gwer-West and several other Local Government Areas in Benue State by unidentified armed herdsmen took the law into their hands in a blatant display of brigandage and criminality and attacked Naka town in retaliation for the alleged murder of one of their colleagues by unknown elements in the bush 1.5km from Naka in the evening of Wednesday, 18th April, 2018.”
In his contribution, Sunday Karimi (PDP-Kogi) who frowned at the ugly development noted that the president we have today is not the same Buhari of 1985. In fact, it’s time for the President to go…it’s time to invoke section 143 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We can’t continue like this, the president had failed,” the Kogi lawmaker alleged.
While venting his view, Dickson Tarkhir (APC-Benue) explained that the Army reported to have lost 27 personnel during the crises, but noted that the state has not experienced peace because the herdsmen have the support of security agencies.
On her part, Joan Mrakpor observed that the lingering crisis if allowed to linger till 2019 may spell doom for the entire citizenry, hence called for deliberate efforts toward halting the life threatening rule.
In his submission, Kehinde Agboola (PDP-Ekiti) who condemned the attacks on innocent Nigerians urged the President to toll the honourable path of resigning or changing the service chiefs.
In the same vein, Aliyu Magaji (APC-Jigawa) called for the sack of the Service Chiefs and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Also speaking, Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta), urged the House to visit Benue state with the view to having first hand information since the failure of the Police.
On her part, Omosede Igbinedion (PDP-Edo) urged the House to rebrand the killer herdsmen as terrorists.
Chris Akor & Iniobong Iwok
