From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and House of Representatives member for Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency in Benue State, Mr. Asema Achado, has pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct all efforts towards guaranteeing the safety and quick return of the Benue IDPs to their ancestral homes.
Achado made this appeal while reacting to what he described as a “disturbing news” concerning the President’s approval for the construction of 1,000 houses in Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger and Benue states as part of a broad plan to address conflicts in the North.
He noted that while the general statement concealed specificities on who will benefit from the houses, part of said the project would include “ancillary facilities of schools, clinics, veterinary clinics and ranches for Fulani communities in Kaduna and Benue.”
“As one who has always prayed for peaceful coexistence among tribes and groups in Nigeria, I welcome all initiatives that would promote peace and guarantee succour to the IDPs who have been through all forms of trauma and lost their means of livelihood, however, such projects should equally aggregate priorities of the victims,” he said.
He pointed out that majority of the displaced persons cannot access their farmlands anymore as they have been taken over by herdsmen or bandits who are grazing freely on the affected areas.
He also noted that there were reported cases where farmers who attempt to visit these abandoned villages out of the desperation to feed themselves are gruesomely murdered by the bandits who are fully occupying these deserted villages.
According to him, “it is on this note that I wish to advise as a stakeholder and one of the APC chieftains in Benue that the first step should be directed at deploying security men that would ensure a peaceful dislodgement of the bandits that are unlawfully occupying homes and farmlands belonging to Benue people who are pushed to the IDP camps.”
“I pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct all efforts towards guaranteeing the safety and quick return of the Benue IDPs to their ancestral homes where they can live their normal lives.”
Achado stated that “without taking this first step, I doubt the possibility of erecting houses in these areas amid such volatile security situation.
He further explained that ranching is the best practice of animal husbandry that should be adopted all over the world but providing ranches for herders in a state where humans are ranched in IDP camps in the fear of same herders will certainly not achieve the desired peace.
“President Bola Tinubu is a listening leader and I am confident that working with relevant stakeholders, he will end the attacks and illegal occupation of Benue farmlands in the near future,” he said.