Members of the Benue State Caucus of the House of Representatives on
Friday asked the Federal Government to stop what they described as
“senseless killings” by herdsmen in Benue State, particularly the
ongoing attacks in Agatu Local Government Area where over 500 lives have
been lost.
Describing the killings as “genocide” and taking a
pattern similar to that of the Boko Haram insurgents, the lawmakers
warned that should President Muhammadu Buhari fail to act fast, the
people of Benue State would retaliate.
The Chairman, House
Committee on Rules/Business, Mr. Orker Jev, who read the caucus’s
position at a news conference held at the National Assembly in Abuja,
said, “We condemn the belated reaction of Buhari and his Minister of
Interior, Lt-Gen. Abulrahman Danbazzau (retd), who broke their unholy
silence a week after over 500 people were killed and 10 villages razed
in Agatu area of the state.
“It is curious that till today,
the investigative panel purportedly instituted by the Federal Government
to probe the attacks has not been made public or inaugurated. Who are
the members of the committee?
“Jev recalled that many parts of the state had been under sustained attacks by herdsmen since 2013.
Besides
Agatu, the caucus said Buruku, Otukpo, Guma, Gwer-West/East, Logo,
Kwande, Tarka, Makurdi and Katsina-Ala had been attacked in the past,
“resulting in the death of thousands of Benue people.”
The caucus
noted that the “unsympathetic statement” of the Inspector-General of
Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, that the number of the casualties in Agatu
was blown out of proportion, “encouraged the herdsmen to intensify their
killing bazaar in the state.”
Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State
Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, denied that communal clash between
Fulani herdsmen and farmers was a genocide.
According to him, the crisis has been in existence before he was elected governor.
Al-Makura
spoke at Udeni-Magaji when he went to the community to inspect the
level of destruction done to the area during the Fulani herdsmen/farmers
violence.
http://news-me.com/agatu-killings-benue-threatens-reprisal-urges-fgs-intervention/
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