I am sorely pained by reports I have been monitoring in which the Benue state Police Public Relations Officer is quoted to have disputed the figures of the killings that have been carried out by Fulani herdsmen against Tiv farmers in Benue state in the past couple of weeks.
In the report monitored on Radio Benue, the PPRO disputed the figures and stated that rather 81 persons as claimed I. some quarters, 22 persons were actually killed. The pinch of it is that the Governor HE Samuel Ortom visited the Minister of Interior Abulrahaman Danbazzau and mentioned the same figures as the actual numbers of those killed.
While of course I expect the Governor as chief security officer and security agencies in his state to be on the same page, no one should try to make nonsense of the pain and anguish that the Benue people have suffered these past many years at the hands of Fulani herders.
First of all the Police do not bother to feed us information about happenings in these places where the killings are taking place, were it not for social media, we would be in the dark concerning these killings and to try to make it seem like the reports are deliberately misleading is both insensitive of the losses that families have suffered of loved ones.
I do not for one second support fake reporting but I will also not support anyone trying to make a non issue of the killings. One lost life to these senseless killings is one life too many. For the record, no Benue son has been killed in far away places like Kastina, Sokoto, Zamfara or other places known to be ancestral to Fulani's.
It is equally sad that the Governor choose to describe the Fulani occupation as a 'crises' and also trying to paint the incidence as a"two fighting" matter. Fact of the matter is that the Fulani's are armed and deliberate about these attacks and the occupation that has followed the displacement of the owners of those homes is not a mistake. It is an occupation and should be called as such.
While I sympathise with the Governor for his "hands tied" stance, I will not accept his submission. I wholly support his efforts in dealing with the matter but he should be more proactive as pussy footing of the past several months has left us no where in dealing with this matter.
As for the Police and their image laundering moves, we know from experience that when they say 2people died, facts on the ground often differ Case in point, we were told 4 students were killed in the UniAgric cult wars but by the time the counting was done, not less than 13 corpses were counted but the Police never corrected that fact, so why am I to accept their 22 persons figure when I know a pinch of salt is required in taking Police figures for casualty in any circumstance?
Abeg, stop with the media wash and protect the lives of those at risk.
# MAFO where are you with your numbers?