₦airaland Forum

The Benue State Government has closed down 2, 219 secondary schools over poor standards.

The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dannis Ityavyar, made this disclosure on Tuesday in Makurdi, the state capital while fielding questions from members of the House of Assembly, who sought explanations over the dwindling standard of education.

Ityavyar also added that 19 tertiary institutions were closed down for the same reason.

He said that the state government was working towards improving the quality of education, declaring that mushroom schools would not be allowed to operate.

“The only powers we have are limited to quality control; the owners of schools insist that we cannot dictate fees to them and there isn’t much that we can do,” he said.

He confirmed that some schools were charging N30,000 to register their students for West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) senior secondary schools examination as against the N13,500 charged by the examination body.

“It is a difficult situation because the parents are willing to pay. In the ministry, we are helpless,” he said.

Source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/government-closes-2219-schools-over-poor-standards-in-benue-state/

Read the full interview here: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/benuel-killings-the-minister-of-defence-is-part-of-the-conspiracy-against-benue-gov-ortom/

Governor Samuel Ortom in an interview reacted to comments credited to Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali on the invasion of the state and killings by alleged Fulani herdsmen. He maintained that they were an indication that the Minister was part of the conspiracy against Benue State and lots more.

Reaction to comments credited to the Minister of Defence that the killings in Benue and Taraba states were as a result of Anti-Open Grazing Laws?

We are not distracted, the anti-grazing law was done in the best interest of Benue State and Nigeria. Before the law came in place, Benue State was attacked more than 40 times and we suffered casualties and destructions. In 2014 alone, an assessment by the Bureau of Local Governments came out with a figure of N95 billion that was lost in terms of property and assets of Benue people, destroyed due to herdsmen attacks. Thirteen local government areas out of 23 were under siege. The herdsmen came and took over the entire land.

When we came in 2015, this challenge continued, the killings continued, the burning and destruction, the raping of our wives and children continued. And we tried to broker peace as law- abiding citizens and as people who believe in leadership with the fear of God. We did everything to ensure that we had peace yet the peace we were looking for never came. And as leaders with the responsibility of providing security for lives and property, we prayed and God directed us and we went into research. We discovered that globally, cattle ranching remains the best practice in animal husbandry around the world.

Argentina and Brazil earn much from beef export but they ranch. America produces cattle more than most countries of the world, they ranch. China and other Asian countries do same; even in Africa, it’s the same practice. Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa that earn much from beef; they also ranch. What we did was the popular wish of the people. The law was not smuggled.

It was a product of the cry of the people and as a responsible government, we heard their cry and presented a bill before the State House of Assembly that went further to do public hearings across the state to get the input of everyone that was concerned because of the importance of the bill. Today, you talk about ranching in some states, grazing reserve in some states and tomorrow you talk about colony. I don’t understand, when globally what is being practised is ranching. I heard and I saw the Minister of Defence after their security meeting.

While briefing the Press, he said it was the law prohibiting open grazing that brought the killings in Benue State. I saw that and I said to myself, it cannot be the Minister of Defence! Somebody who worked and retired from the army after attaining the rank of a General. This is someone who is a Minister, who is educated and has travelled far and wide round the globe. How could he say that? ‘Honourable Minister of Defence, if you said that kind of a thing, where were you as the Minister of this country when herdsmen were carrying AK-47 and weapons higher than AK-47 and were going about killing my people and you want me to keep quiet? And I begin to wonder.

The other day, the Federal Government came out with a pronouncement that it was ISIS, a terrorist group in West Africa that is attacking Benue people and on the other hand, I was told that the Minister said that we should accommodate foreigners. What a country? Foreigners come in without valid papers and they come to take over your land and you surrender it to them? Minister, I will not do that in Benue State, we will not surrender our land. You can go and do it in your own state and not in Benue State.

https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/benuel-killings-the-minister-of-defence-is-part-of-the-conspiracy-against-benue-gov-ortom/

The Nigerian Army has arrested a native doctor, Tordue Gber (Tiv Swem), who allegedly acted as spiritual counselor to the wanted armed criminal militia, Akwazar Terwase (alias Gana), in Benue.

A statement by Brig.-Gen Sani Usman, the Director of Army Public Relations, on Tuesday, said the suspect was arrested in Tor-Dunga town in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of the state during a raid on his shrine.

The army spokesman said troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade arrested Gber on Monday following information that the shrine served as hideout for wanted armed militia and meeting point for operations of the criminal armed militias in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States.

Usman said “Preliminary investigation shows that Tordue Gber (Tiv Swem) acts as spiritual counselor that provides Gana with “diabolical” powers and the shrine serves as hideout for wanted armed militia, meeting and planning point for operations and logistics base for the criminal armed militias that operate in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States.

“The native doctor was arrested along with one of his accomplice, Atoo Kuwe Francis, while planning to carry out an attack and abduct one Mr. Zaya at Tse Bente village in the same local government area,”

A locally fabricated pistol, two baretta Pistols, 11 rounds of 9mm ammunition, three motorcycles and assorted charms were recovered from the shrine.

https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/wanted-benue-militia-terwases-herbalist-arrested-by-nigerian-army/

The Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Monday, said no troop had been deployed in Benue and other states as recommended by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s committee on herdsmen crisis.

The Defence Director of Information, Brig-Gen John Agim, said the police were on the ground in the states, stressing that the military were the “last line of defence.”

The Osinbajo committee, which was set up by the National Economic Council to find lasting panacea to the killings by herdsmen across the country, recommended increased military presence in Benue and other states affected by the attacks.

But Agim said the decision had not been communicated to the military.

He said, “The report just came out. They (the troops) have not moved in. You will recall that the Federal Government asked the Inspector-General of Police to move into Benue State. I have seen the report that the military are going to be given more roles; but that was just yesterday.

“There is a laid down rule and regulation. The military are the last line of defence. We cannot become the police. It is only when the police go in and they find it difficult that we move in. In a normal situation, the state governor will ask the President, who will take the request to the National Assembly before military is deployed.”

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) says it opposed the Benue state anti-open grazing law because it failed to address pastoralists’ interests.

Secretary of MACBAN in Benue, Ibrahim Galma, said this during a meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

He called for modification of the law to make it fair for all parties.

Galma, who appealed to the NBA to interface with the state government on the necessary amendment, said Miyetti Allah was not invited for all the public hearings held before the bill was signed.

“We could not contribute. It was after the signing that the Benue State government called the association to inform us that the implementation of the law will start on November 1, 2017.

“We went through the law and advised the government on areas that do not do justice to the pastoralists.

“I told the governor that temporal grazing reserves should be allocated to the Fulanis pending the full implementation of the law but my advice was ignored by the government”, he said.

He further lamented how the law was communicated to local herdsmen, saying it was not properly managed.

“It was communicated to the local herdsmen that the government has signed a law to drive the Fulanis out of the state.

“Also, there was no training and sensitization of Fulanis and local farmers before the implementation”.

National Secretary of MACBAN, Baba Usman Ngelzarma, in his remarks, backed Galma.

The scribe decried activities of the Livestock Guard created by the law to implement the anti-open grazing provision.

Source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/miyetti-allah-reveals-why-they-are-against-benue-anti-open-grazing-law/

The Benue Police Command has advised residents to be wary of rogues using false security alarms to scare people so as to steal their property.

Benue CP, Fatai Owosen, said this on Monday in Makurdi.

“Some mischievous elements are taking advantage of the situation in attacked communities to raise false alarms so as to steal from the fear-stricken residents when they flee out of fear”, he said.

He cautioned the people against “rumour-induced panic”, and warned miscreants engaged in raising such false alarms to desist or be dealt with.

Owoseni told that the police command was working hard to restore normalcy.

He assured Benue residents of the Force’s readiness to protect them from any danger, and appealed for information on the whereabouts of criminals.

The Police boss described the attacks as “an asymmetric warfare”, saying that the command was partnering with individuals and groups to apprehend the bandits.

The Senate Committee on Navy, has said the Navy Special Forces remained the panacea to the Fulani herdsmen and farmers’ crisis in Benue and other states.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Isa Misau said this when he led members of the committee on a visit to the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy and other units and formations under it in Lagos, over the weekend.

Addressing reporters after watching a display by the Naval Special Forces, the Senator said: “As a committee, we have been speaking with the commander, SBS and the committee has collected some of the papers he brought from Jordan.

“We are interested in what he said. We were made to understand that if we have 30 of them (Special Forces) in Benue, they can solve the problem of herdsmen crisis.

“We have solution for the Benue crisis in the Navy. We are having enormous challenges in the Niger Delta, Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Adamawa, but with the Special Forces I think we can achieve so much.

“We will put it to the leadership of the senate so that they can tell the President that the solution is at hand.”

source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/senate-reveals-how-nigerian-government-can-end-benue-killings/

The Benue State Universal Education Board has said that at least 10, 000 pupils have been forced out of schools in two local government areas of the state which came under attack by gunmen on New Year’s Day.

The chairman of the board, Rev. Philip Tachin, on Sunday in Makurdi said many schools were affected as many families fled their homes alongside the children to different camps following the invasion of Guma and Logo LGAs of the state by gunmen.

Tachin lamented that the situation had posed a setback for the board which recently embarked on massive campaign for increased enrolment of pupils into public primary schools in the state at the commencement of the new academic session few months ago.

He said it was disheartening to see hundreds of school children forced out of school due to the invasion by suspected herders of some communities in the Guma and Logo areas when he paid a visit to the camp few days ago to donate relief materials.

Tachin said, “The Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency gave me staggering statistics of children numbering 2,050 who are locked up in this camp in Gbajimba. Apart from these children from the rural areas that have been camped here, the primary school in Gbajimba has also been shut down in order to accommodate the refugees since there are no enough IDP camps.

“This is the multiplier effect of this genocidal operation. There are six IDP camps in these two affected local government areas and if the statistics of these schoolchildren are the same across the IDPs camps, over 10,000 children have been forced out of school.”

According to him, the development was antithetical to the Universal Basic Education Commission’s intensive effort to mop up out-of-school children in the state.

Tachin expressed worry that the gunmen who, he said, had no value for education were on a mission to destroy education, adding that, if the Federal Government was not decisive in putting a stop to the killings, then its efforts in education would be a mere waste of resources.

“Many schools have been affected, though we have yet to ascertain whether school buildings have been destroyed the same way they do to houses in villages. We met one of the cops that were attacked by the armed herdsmen and he confirmed that they were Fulani herdsmen.

“They were heavily armed and were among their cattle. The Federal Government should be honest by not playing politics with this serious security problem because it is capable of leading to a conflagration. We want one Nigeria and we shouldn’t be pushed to having a divided country,” Tachin said.

https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/benue-killings-over-10000-pupils-forced-out-of-school-subeb/

Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isah Misau, weekend in Lagos, said the Navy Special Forces was the needed solution to the killings in Benue State, even as he announced plan by the committee to propose the adoption of Special Forces before the general House. Misau spoke during an oversight visit of members of the committee to the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy and other units and formations under it.

The Navy Special Forces, known as Special Boat Service, SBS, are a team of small and highly trained personnel meant for special operations that are conducted in hostile and politically sensitive environment.

It is predominantly focused on littoral and riverine operations, including reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as covert operations in advance of an amphibious assault. The SBS as gathered, had trained the Nigerian Army tactical warfare, the Ghanian forces and the Marine Police. Speaking with journalists after watching a display by the Special Forces, at SBS training ground in Ojo, Misau said:

“As a committee, we have been speaking with the commander, SBS and the committee has collected some of the papers he brought from Jordan. We are interested in what he said. We were made to understand that if we have 30 of them (Special Forces) in Benue, they can solve the problem of herdsmen crisis. We have solution for the Benue crisis in the Navy.

We are having enormous challenges in the Niger Delta, Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Adamawa, but with the Special Forces I think we can achieve so much. We will put it to the leadership of the senate so that they can tell the President that the solution is at hand.” Expressing satisfaction over the level of progress in the projects inspected, Misau described it as judicious use of the 2017 budget.

The Federal Government at the weekend opted to take decisive military force to deal with the bandits believed to be behind the killings in parts of the country especially

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said “The role of bandits and suspected mercenaries in what has become known as herdsmen/ farmer clashes and violence may have provoked the need for a fresh approach to dealing with the crisis, informed sources close to the Working Group formed recently by the National Economic Council have hinted.”

“The settled view in official circles is that the reported killings and violence recorded are the work of bandits and mercenaries since in many cases the herdsmen are often well-known in the communities where their cattle normally graze.”

According to him, the new position is one of the outcomes of the Working Group formed less than two weeks ago by the National Economic Council with 9 Governors, and chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.

The group was set up in a bid to end the impunity that has marked the activities of the bandits resulting in several deaths and maiming especially in Benue State.
According to the Kano State Governor Dr. Ganguje who read out highlights and decisions of the NEC to reporters (alongside his Ebonyi counterpart) after the Council meeting that Thursday the Working Group “will work in accordance with the President’s commitment to ensuring that all perpetrators of violence are brought to book.”

The highlights also noted that the Working Group which consists of Governors from Zamfara, Kaduna, Adamawa, Benue, Taraba, Edo, Plateau, Ebonyi & Oyo States actually commenced its work with a meeting presided over by the VP right immediately after NEC at the Presidential Villa.

The source disclosed that at the end of the Working Group meeting last week, it was clear a major turning point had been reached in the management of the crisis and sufficient consensus recorded on the need to stop the impunity by engaging the military in a more decisive manner.

Some political analyst had indicated that the crisis also required a political solution considering the religious and ethnic tones that could easily become further exacerbated and possibly worsen the situation if proper and timely care is not taken.

source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/benue-taraba-killings-fg-opts-for-military-action-to-flush-out-killers/

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Nasarawa State chapter on Sunday urged the Federal Government to drop the idea of cattle colonies and deploy Military to Nasarawa and Benue border.

The state Chairman of CAN, Joseph Masin, said this during the body’s donation of relief materials to over 8, 000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camped in the state.

Masin advised the government to adopt ranches system as it was the only way to curtail herdsmen/farmers crisis.

He made the donations comprising 10 bags of gari, 20 bags of rice and assorted clothes to IDPs in kaderko, in Keana Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

The IDPs, who are mostly Tivs, were allegedly chased out from their communities bordering Benue State by suspected herdsmen.

The Chairman said they were not only there to distribute relief materials, but to also share in the pains of the IDPs who lost some of their loved ones during the attack.

Masin told NAN: “It is a very pathetic situation to see children, women and the aged being forced and dislodged from their homes.

“Despite all the killings going on simultaneously in many states of the country, our military that fought and restored peace in other African countries were able to do little or nothing.

“Government should urgently deploy the military to the border towns between Nasarawa and Benue in order to restore peace and return the people to their homes,’’ he said

Mr Christopher Gbongbo, the spokesperson of the IDPs, who received the items on behalf of the IDPs, expressed gratitude to CAN for the gesture.

Gbongbo, however, regretted that no government official or agency had visited nor sent relief materials to the camps in Keana.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State has asked the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali to resign from office following his comment on recent killings in the state.

Also, the party led by its chairman, Comrade Abba Yaro,on Saturday urged the minister to tendered an unreserved apology to the people of Benue for saying, that the implementation of anti-open grazing law and blocking of grazing routes in some states was the major cause of the killings by suspected herders in the country.

In a statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Comrade Apeh Peterhot, the party, described the minister's comment as "frivolous and a flatly ridiculous absurdity as well as the highest level of public disgrace to democracy and the Nigerian populace."

"By this singular utterance, the Minister of Defence, Col. Muhammad Mansur Dan Ali (rtd) has inarguably displayed incontestable lack of the required sensibility and capacity to serve as Defence Minister in a country of over 180 million people with over 300 ethnic nationalities.

We have therefore been constrained to believe that Mr. Mansur is a component unit of the perceived conspiracy against the good and hospitably peace loving people of Benue State. We demand that Col. Mansur Dan Ali (rtd) resigns his position as Nigeria's Defence Minister immediately and tender an unreserved apology to the good people of Benue State and the country at large," the statement read in part.

The APC in the state also demanded that the minister publicly explain to the party's apex leadership why his alleged reckless utterances should not be considered as a deliberate ploy to truncate the party's victory in the 2019 general election.

Meanwhile, the party has advised the minister who they said read Photography in the polytechnic and later took to animal husbandry with flocks of cows to his credit in his Zamfara country home to take a timely resignation and return him to his farm with a Xenon HD Camera to continue taking snapshots of his flock of herds back home.

source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/benue-apc-ask-defence-minister-to-resign-following-his-comment-over-benue-killings/

Sixteen Nigerian states have agreed to the establishment of cattle colonies proposed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh as a solution to the incessant herdsmen crisis.

It was gathered that some 16 states, all in the North, have volunteered land for the establishment of cattle colonies in their domain.

The states include: Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Nasarawa and Plateau.

Others are Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Jigawa, Yobe, Niger, Kogi and Kwara states.

According to report, all the 16 states have agreed to volunteer 5,000 hectares of land each.

However, Benue and Taraba experiencing herdsmen attacks have rejected the cattle colonies.

All the 17 states of Southern Nigeria have also refused to volunteer land for the cattle colonies.

The apex Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, and a former Aviation Minister Femi-Fani-Kayode have reacted to the setting ablaze of a farm belonging to a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Olu Falae by Fulani herdsmen.

Reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin described it as the continuation of the declaration of war by the Fulani.

According to Afenifere, “It is continuation of the declaration of war by armed Fulani herdsmen, who have been terrorising communities and are now burning farmlands.

“Now, they have gone to Falae’s farm. These people have made up their mind to go to war or have their way and the authority has refused to call them to order.

“The latest on Falae’s farm is clearly unacceptable, an aggression by the Fulani and they should be rest assured that the Yoruba nation will not take it likely.

“If they think that with all these they are doing, they will have one inch of land for cattle colony in any part of Yoruba land, they should forget it.”

Also reacting to the incident, Fani-Kayode wrote, “Fulani terrorists have set Chief Olu Falae’s entire farm in Ondo State on fire.

“Baba Falae is one of the most respected and revered leaders of Afenifere and the Yoruba nation.

“Only two years ago the same Fulani terrorists kidnapped him and almost killed him. I ask Buhari and Miyetti Allah, does he deserve this? Is this fair?

“How many more people have to die and how many more farms have to be destroyed before you will call these barbarians to order and bring them to book?

Security agencies have uncovered Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) fighters in Benue, Kogi and Edo states.

The Nation reports that the group has been operating in some North Central and South-South states using foreign terrorists.

ISWA are also believed to be recruiting young men into their group.

“A good number” of the Islamic State terrorists have reprotedly been arrested not only in the Benue valley, but significantly in many towns in Edo State, such as Akoko Edo, Okpella and Benin, the state capital. They have also been found in Okene in central Kogi State.

“Security service organisations, including the Department of State Service, (DSS) in a report submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, identified an Islamic State in West Africa network operating within some North Central and South-South areas,” a source said.

“They mostly speak the French. This is the first time that security officials have confirmed that Islamic State in West Africa members are operating as a unit in Nigeria and the level of their penetration of the country.

“It is understood that the cell, which has members in different parts of the country concentrates on recruiting young men to fight for the Islamic State in West Africa by unleashing the cold-blooded murder of innocent citizens.

“There was intelligence that they had planned attacks in the country, before and during Christmas and the New Year festivities. Their bombing targets included fuel depots, foreign missions, the police and military establishments.

“Their network is very wide. But so much was achieved by the DSS, which made a significant number of arrests in the last two months that helped to preempt those attacks. This helped to save Nigeria from the spate of major terrorist attacks witnessed elsewhere that were syndicated by ISIS worldwide.”

The source added that reports submitted to the Presidency, also revealed that security officials now fear an influx of other ISIS members into many parts of the country.

“We are learning more and more about this complex and sophisticated network. This is the main reason why the secret service is not parading those suspects so far arrested. It has become clear to us, by now, that the challenge facing this country is a serious one,” he said.

Sourcehttps://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/islamic-state-fighters-reportedly-in-benue-kogi-edo-states/

An attack on Southern and Middle Belt leaders at the weekend, by the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, has elicited a prompt rebuke from the leaders.
Shettima, who led a delegation of some northern governors to Benue State over recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in the state, described Southern and Middle Belt leaders as “political dinosaurs” with nothing more to contribute to national development.
The leaders, in their response, described the statement as rude and uncouth, saying “no well raised” person would address elderly persons as the northern governors did.
Leaders of the pan-Yoruba political organisation, Afenifere, Ohanaeze and Middle Belt Forum, had, last Wednesday visited the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, to commiserate with him over the recent killings and mass burial of 73 people in the state. They called for a restructuring of the country.
But on Friday, leading Governors Simon Lalong (Plateau), Malam el-Rufai (Kaduna), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Mohammad Abubakar (Jigawa), Shettima described the southern leaders as old men who were living in the past with “nothing to give Nigeria again.”
The deputy governor of Osun State, Chief (Mrs) Titilayo Tomori, also joined the team to represent her governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola.
The governor, who used the visit to lash at leaders of the Joint South and Middle Belt Forum, expressed disgust that people were trying to make politics out of the crisis, stating that “none of those people could say they know problems of this state than the governor.”
Shettima, who refused to condemn the activities of the herdsmen throughout his speech and during interaction with newsmen, said problems were created by men and only men could find solution to the problems.
According to him, “sensationalism cannot advance the cause of the issue. We should have generosity of spirit to embrace each other.”
While saying, unlike the old generations of southern leaders that do not have anything to give to Nigeria again, the governor said, “we are the new generation of Nigerian leaders, not for some political dinosaurs from Abuja or any other part of the country to cause unnecessary issues.
“All of us here are members of this generation. The future belongs to us,” he said, while adding that leaders born a few years after the amalgamation of Nigeria are “living in the past and are political dinosaurs.”
Reacting, however, the joint secretary of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said the statement by Governor Shettima was a clear manifestation of somebody who lacked good moral standing and manners, but gained prominence in a country like Nigeria which he said had lost its soul.

Benue State-born Nollywood actress, Meg Otanwa has lent her voice following the incessant killings in her home state. The actress who hails from the Idoma tribe condenmed the bloodbath in an open-letter she wrote to President Buhari on her Instagram page.

Her letter is coming few days after legendary singer, 2face paid a condolence visit to governor, Samuel Ortom of Benue state, over the recent herdsmen killings in the state. The 2017 AMVCA Best Actress winner lamented that attack on her kinsmen by Fulani herdsmen, saying it has been going on for many years. She also recalled her personal encounter during an attack on a community and appealed to President Buhari to defend and protect the lives of innocent citizens.

The letter reads thus:“Dear President Muhammadu Buhari. One fateful day I received numerous calls from home: “A u Fulani! A u fulani!! E ku pewa eh,” meaning, “The Fulanis! The Fulanis! They’ve come again!” It was on the 17th of January, last year. The herdsmen had attacked a neighbouring village and the villagers had run into our village for safety. The marauders took lives and left a trail of destruction behind them.

These attacks have been going on as far back as I can remember. I remember my grandmother hiding some of my siblings and I under the bed because “a u fulani” were coming. “That was well over 20 years ago. We had travelled home for Christmas and on this fateful day, villagers ran back from their farms covered in blood and tears from herdsmen attacks. That was my first memory and encounter with the name “Fulani”. “In June of 2017, I lost my cousin, Sunday Fabian Otanwa, in the hands of these same herdsmen in Makurdi.

Sunday was in the Police Force, he was deployed to a village to protect the people. He and his colleagues became a target for the herdsmen, they launched another attack just to kill the security personnel in the villages. Sunday was killed.” “Please tell me Mr President, are we second class Nigerians? Why must we continue to suffer in the hands of these faceless barbaric criminals?

They come to kill and claim our ancestral land. The people of Benue State are predominantly farmers. That is what they know. Benue State did not become “the Food Basket of the nation” for nothing. Farming is the means of livelihood for most people in Benue State. So when they attack our crops, they attack our very existence. The Open Grazing Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches law has been signed since May 2017.

So why are we still left to fight these criminals off our lands? These attacks and killings have persisted and worsened over the years in places as disparate as Plateau, Kaduna, Enugu among other parts of the country. Mr President Sir, with all due respect, we do not need your condolences anymore. We’ve received enough of that for over 20 plus years. Open grazing is now against the law.

The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has cried out to the federal government for help. He is not the Commander In Chief; you are, sir. So please deploy the army to protect and secure Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Enugu and every other part of Nigeria that has experienced these vicious attacks and yet still remains under threat. Why send the army to stop protesters? They are only speaking out in a bid to protect their lands and livelihood. If you are indeed for all Nigerians, please do what is required of a leader: let the affected communities see and feel that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cares about them, not only through words, but also through action.”

Source: https://www.benuepress.com/2018/01/read-the-open-letter-actress-meg-otanwa-writes-to-president-buhari-over-benue-killings/