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•They negotiated our freedom as if they’re selling crayfish – Victims
From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Although the people of Akenawe, Tswarev, in Ukemberagya/Tswarev council ward of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State are not slave merchants, bandits who kidnapped their kinsmen on Sunday, April 3, have demanded ransom, haggling as if they were buying crayfish.
Some community members have narrated how the attackers demanded a ransom of N4 million a few hours after they fled the scene of the attack with four victims from their community. They said the gunmen were told that their victims were farmers and have no such money to give, even if they sold all they had.
The ransom went down from N2 million to N400,000 and lastly to N200,000. At the time of filing this report, the victims had been released for N101,000 with the phone of the negotiator taken from him at the point of payment.
Gunmen had attacked worshippers at Pentecostal Church, Akenawe, Tswarev, in Ukemberagya/Tswarev, killed one, abducted four and injured many others.
Our correspondent gathered that the gunmen stormed the church in the early hours of Sunday, during a vigil, opened fire on them killed a young boy, Humbafan Alumunga, from Changoji village, and went away with four others, including the resident pastor.
The community leader and president, Gaambe-Tiev Youths Association (GYA), Dr. Hemen Terkimbi, disclosed that five people sustained machete cuts, including the acting kindered head of Akemkpa, Zaki Tyokase Ingyutu, who was wounded on the head, and are receiving treatment in different hospitals in Ugba and Anyiim areas of Logo LGA.
According to him, the resident pastor, Rev. Gwadue Kwaghtyo, and three others were still missing. A community leader from the area, Joseph Anawa, lamented the incessant attacks on Benue communities, saying it had become almost a daily occurrence.
He gave the names of those injured to include Zaki Tyokase Igyutu from Tse Ando, Vandefan Aerga from Tsehumbe and Iwuese Mbaveluior, while those kidnapped were Gwadue from Akenawe, Nater Tyokase from Tse Ando, Alumunga Changoji from Changoji village and Theresa Iorwuese from Meeme village.
Speaking to Daily Sun, councillor representing Ukembaragya/Tswarev ward, Mr. Jonathan Tyonongo, narrated how it all started. According to him, one of the locals from Meeme village had gone to Akanawe and was returning from the hospital where he had taken his girlfriend for treatment.
He said: “On their way, close to Meeme, they saw some boys moving in front not them. They were seven in number.
“Because it was Akanawe market day, he thought it could be some of their brothers closing from the market and heading home. But they became suspicious when the boys who were moving in front of them suddenly stopped at the house of one Meeme, a soldier, and began to surround the place.
“So, the guy and his girlfriend stopped to observe who they were, just as they were wondering why they surrounded the house. When they stopped, the boys sighted them and one of them rushed to the other and whispered something to him.
“Then they started saying ‘shikwagh! shikwagh!!’ When you want to ask your dog to pursue some in Tiv, you say ‘shikwagh shikwagh’. So the on hearing that, the boy and his friend started running but because the girl was sick, she couldn’t run fast and they caught the girl.
“While the boy was running back to Akanawe, he met the one of the boys who lives in the house the boys surrounded and told him what they had seen and how he was being pursued.
“They both ran back to Akanawe to alert the people about these unknown faces but unknown to them, the bad boys followed them. On entering Akanawe, the boys stopped outside the Pentecostal Church where the people were praying.
“They stopped outside; they didn’t enter or start shooting immediately. They just stood there. At the point when the worshippers wanted to start Bible reading, the boys switched on their torches and started flashing light into the church building, then followed it with two gunshots right into the church.
“The bullets caught one small boy and he died instantly and the second bullet hit a girl in the back and another in the leg. That was when people started running. There in the church, the boy caught two people and took them away.
“After the boys left the church, they went to the residence of another villager and beat him up with his wife. They demanded that the guy, who was deaf, should give them money and when he said he didn’t have money, they beat him the more using their cutlass to beat him.
“They also went to the house of our acting Or Tar (district head) and beat him up, along with his son. They also demanded money. When they didn’t see any money in the house, they took them to the shop belonging to the chief’s son, which was infront of the house, searched and took all the money they found.
“After robbing them, they still kidnapped his son, making four people, a woman and three men. They kidnapped them and went into the bush. As I speak with you, we don’t know who they are. We have not seen the people they kidnapped, we are still searching.”
He said, by Monday morning, “the kidnappers called and asked for a ransom of N2 million, and when they told them there was no money, they called back by 12 noon and reduced the ransom to N400,000, per head. They still told them they don’t have such an amount, and in the evening they reduced it to N100,000 for each of them. So, they said there is no money and until now, we have not heard anything. That was what I was told.”
The councillor lamented that his people have lost their peace for years and are now living in fear, as no week passes without such attacks on Logo LGA and it’s environs.
Tyonongo, who noted that the villagers have deserted the area out of fear, said: “Recently, we have been attacked twice and our people killed and robbed three times on different occasions.
“If you go there now, you won’t see anyone. People have run away. People only return stealthily to come and quickly get food to eat and run back again. Once it is 5pm, everyone runs back to town.
“As I speak to you, since that last killing, we have been in fear; no one has slept at home. There is no security presence in the area even though we have a police station.”
He lamented that the community, in the last two years, has been appealing to the government to send security agents to their area but their request has not been granted.
Tyonongo expressed worry that his people who are farmers have now abandoned their land to take refuge in neighbouring villages and called on government to come to their aid.
“We have a security office at Jootar. One of my brothers came and renovated the station recently and put in office facilities. Our problem is to get security men posted there.
“We also have police stations in Iorja and Chembe but there is no officer. If we have security men posted in Jootar, Iorja and Chembe, our problem, by God’s grace, would be solved.
“So, on behalf of my community, I’m still appealing to government to send security men to our area to provide security and curtail the incessant attacks on our people. We can provide food for them but let them be here to ensure that our people are safe,” he appealed.
Meanwhile, a widowed mother of four, Theresa Ahamber, has said that the threat of the kidnappers to return should not be taken lightly. Since her husband died, she has lived in Meeme village, where she has engaged in farming, her only occupation, to cater for her four children.
The widow was among the victims kidnapped last Sunday when gunmen shot at worshippers, killed one and kidnapped four others. She was taken while returning from the hospital close to her village.
Speaking to our correspondent through an interpreter in Tiv, Mrs. Ahamber, she gave glory to God for saving her life.
“I have never been so scared in my life. I thought that was my end. I asked God if that was how I would also die and leave my children and they would become orphans. I kept praying and begging God to save us.
“I prayed many times, telling God that this situation was beyond me, that He should, please, take me out of it, at least, for the sake of my children. I thought about my children, my brothers and sisters. As time went by, I thought they would start killing us one after another.
“My fears grew when I remembered that there was no money anywhere. I wondered how and from where our people were going to get the amount of money they were demanding.
“They were six in number and as we were with them, they didn’t cover their faces. They told us that they were Fulani and what they wanted us to know was that they would continue to come to attack and kidnap us.
“They said they came to Benue to fight, but when they got to the state they told them not to fight again. But since they were already here, they would continue to kill and kidnap us to get money for food.
“While we were there, each time they used my phone to call my brothers, I would be calling out for help, crying and telling them not to allow me die. But each time, they would tell me that they were not interested in killing us. They said they didn’t come to kill that they were looking for money to eat. They even said the boy they killed in the church was a mistake.
“I have delivered the message from the kidnappers, it is now left for the security agencies to deploy their men to protect the people and forestall further attacks.”
Also speaking, the man who went to pay the ransom, Msendoo Ajon, a relative of the kidnapped woman, Theresa Ahamber, narrated how the kidnappers collected his phone after receiving the money from him.
He said the kidnappers had asked the pastor of the church to bring the money to them but Ajon had to go because the pastor had a bad leg and could not trek far into the bush where they were.
He narrated that the kidnappers were furious when they didn’t see the pastor because, according to them, during negotiations for the ransom, the pastor had urged them to reduce the price from the the initial N2 million with a promise that he would arrange and pay them N300,000.
“So, when I appeared there with N101,000, they were angry. They almost shot me but God saved me. They said if it was the pastor, he would not return alive,” he said.
Ajon appealed to the federal government and the Benue State government to work together and end the killings and kidnap of innocent citizens.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of police in the state, Wale Abass, has condemned the attack.
In a statement signed by the police public relations officer, Catherine Anene, the commissioner noted that the victims were members of Akenawe village who were in their homes going about their normal business.
The commissioner also ordered a detailed investigation into the case to ensure that perpetuators are brought to book.
