From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
On October 19, gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked Gbeji, a community in Ukum Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State. The attackers, who invaded the community in the wee hours of the day, killed about 39 persons and left many others with various degrees of injuries.
Community members said the recent attack on Gbeji was one among many other senseless and unprovoked killings of innocent peasant farmers across 10 LGAs of Benue State by marauding herdsmen, leaving behind over two million persons displaced across Benue.
Just before the Gbeji attack, herdsmen had also invaded Mchia and Mou in Logo LGA and killed over 20 persons, with many other injured persons still receiving treatment at the hospital, while another 16 were killed in Yelwata community in Guma LGA of the state. These killings, to mention a few, took place in October alone.
However, the events that followed the Gbeji killings have sparked anger and controversies. While confirming the attack, the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Wale Abass, stated that the attack was a reprisal.
According to him, “Two Fulani men were on their way from Taraba to Benue State; just shortly after the border line between the two states, they saw them (Fulani) on keke Napep (tricycle) and asked them to stop and they stopped. Probably, they must have identified them to be of Fulani extraction. I don’t know what transpired. They were attacked and killed.
“Almost simultaneously, at Anyiin, in Logo LGA, another two Fulani were rearing cows, they rustled their cows, moved the Fulani and their cows to the bush, they killed the cows, shared the meat and killed the Fulani.
“We were still looking for how to avoid a reprisal and, unknown to us, the Fulani had their own plans too. So, between 7:30am and 8am, the Fulani bombarded Gbeji, firing sporadically and, unfortunately, a stray bullet hit one of our officers, an inspector, and he died.”
The CP’s statement has been greeted with reactions from Gbeji community and other concerned Benue people, who described it as false.
For the first time since herders have been unleashing terror on Benue communities, President Muhammadu Buhari personally called Governor Samuel Ortom and condoled with him over the Gbeji massacre.
A statement issued by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said: “It is unacceptable for lives to be taken by herdsmen and farmers alike. No one should attack anyone because of their way of life. Neither should anyone take revenge on others for injustice done to them. Both should be held accountable for their actions and justice delivered.
“It is equally unacceptable for the lives of those merely practising their duties as police officers and government officials to be lost. The government will hold those that took those lives to account.”
Also, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, sent a message to condole with Gbeji community after attacks by Fulani herdsmen.
Atiku said: “I’m saddened by the sustained clashes between farmers and herders that led to the loss of lives, including those of police officers in Gbeji community, Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
“When our people are well integrated into communities where they live, work, pay taxes and raise their children, they’d be obligated to reciprocate the love and acceptance. My deepest condolences to the families that may have lost a loved one and to the people and government of Benue State.”
Buhari and Atiku’s condolence messages, which might have been drawn from the statement of the commissioner of police, sparked reactions from individuals and groups in Benue communities.
Among those who reacted were Gbeji community, Ukum Development Association, socio-cultural groups in the state, namely, Mzough U Tiv (MUT), Ochetoha K’Idoma and Omi Ny’Igede, among others.
Members of Gbeji community, while rejecing Atiku’s sympathy message, described it as a mockery. The eldest son of Gbeji and market overseer, Elder Jonathan Gbeji, in his reaction on behalf of Gbeji community, in a statement, which was read by his brother, Daniel Gbeji, vehemently rejected the message, saying they will not be mocked.
The statement read: “We, members of the Gbeji community, are disappointed with the statement by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar that there was farmers and herders’ clash in Gbeji, which claimed lives, including those of policemen.
“What happened in Gbeji on Wednesday, October 19, was an unprovoked attack by armed Fulani militia on the people around 6am. For Alhaji Atiku to talk about integration does not arise in Gbeji as the attackers do not live among us.
“After the unprovoked attack, many people have visited Gbeji, including Senator Gabriel Suswam and other members of the National and State Assembly, who went round the hospitals and also visited the mortuary to see for themselves some of those who were killed.
“That Alhaji Atiku who is supposed to be the big shelter of the Tiv people, the Zege Mule u Tiv, does not believe people have been killed in spite of media reports and eyewitness accounts, is the height of insensitivity.”
The eldest son of Gbeji said Atiku should have taken time to visit or send assistance to alleviate the humanitarian problems.
“That is the least that we expected at this time. The death toll has risen to 39, with many still missing, while others are in various hospitals. If anyone cannot help us in our time of distress, he should not mock us.
“We, therefore, reject Atiku’s statement, which we regard as mockery,” he said.
Also reacting to the Gbeji killings, Ukum Development Association (UDA) debunked claims by the police chief that it was a reprisal. According to them, no Fulani man was killed neither was their cow rustled.
The president of UDA, Mr. Joseph Terzungwe, said the statement by CP Abbas that the Fulani herdsmen attacked and killed people at Gbeji community in Ukum because their kinsmen were killed and cows rustled in the area was false.
Speaking at Zaki Biam, headquarters of Ukum LGA, Terzungwe insisted that the rampaging killer Fulani that attacked the community were not from the area.
He said: “There was no time that any member of the Gbeji community or any citizen of the area had a conflict, clash or killed a Fulani person or rustled their cow.
“There are no Fulani herdsmen in this area neither are there cows. Fulani do not live with us in this or neighbouring communities, so there is no possibility of farmers clashing or having conflicts with herdsmen. No member of the Ukum Local Government Area has issues with Fulani.”
The association said the commissioner’s assertion was merely an attempt to cover up and justify the unjustifiable murderous act by herdsmen. He insisted that the herdsmen that carried out the deadly attack ambushed vulnerable and innocent members of the community while they were asleep in the middle of the night, unprovoked, killed and destroyed houses as well as properties and left with no trace.
Also reacting, the convener of Benue Republicans, Chief Peter Shande, reminded the police commissioner that, as far back as 2017 when the state government enacted the law prohibiting open grazing of cattle and other livestock and the establishment of ranches, there has been no open grazing of livestock in the area.
He said that the police commissioner, as a security chief in the state, ought to have known better.
He said: “When did the commissioner of police receive report of the killing of the Fulani herdsmen and the rustling of their cows? What action did he take to forestall further escalation? What action did he take to prevent reprisal? Why was the incident not reported in the media before now?
“This statement is only intended to validate the mockery and inciting statement by Garba Shehu a few days ago. However, Ortom’s pan-Nigerianism and stoic defence of fatherland amid so much opposition and threats endeared him to not just me but also many others within and outside Benue.
“Ortom is a fearless, courageous and bold leader, who is never ever afraid to speak truth to power. His type are what we need at the hallowed chambers of the Senate, not only to make good laws for our country but also to put the executive in check.”
Meanwhile, three frontline socio-cultural groups in Benue State, Mzough U Tiv, Ochetoha K’Idoma and Omi Ny’Igede, applauded the President for his prompt condemnation of the Gbeji attack and his promise to support the state government to investigate and arrest the killers.
The group also condemned what it called “the lame attempt by Atiku to condole with families that lost their loved ones during the incident.”
The groups called on the President to establish a military post at Gbeji in Ukum LGA, Chembe in Logo LGA and Agatu in Agatu LGA of the state.
According to them, the establishment of the military posts will go a long way to check the incessant attacks and killing of innocent people across Benue State. They also said it would pave the way for the return of the over two million internally displaced persons of the state to their ancestral homes.
Also condemning the attack, former governor of Benue State and now senator representing Benue North-East senatorial district, Gabriel Suswam, during his condolence visit, said the killing of innocent people in Gbeji showed the nakedness of the Federal Government.
Suswam, who was visibly pained by the killing of his kinsmen, said the Federal Government has further demonstrated its inepititude and lackadaisical attitude in protecting the lives of the people whom they swore to protect.
Lamenting killings in Mchia, Muo and Gbeji, Suswam said: “Federal Government have gone to sleep and do not care about the security of the people. These are peasant farmers whose property have been destroyed and their lives decapitated.”