When Will The Benue, Southern Kaduna Killings End?

 By Charles Okoh

It appears that there will be no end in sight to the killings in Kaduna as well as Benue states. The lackadaisical approach of the Federal Government to halting the carnage in both states remains worrisome. If it is argued that the sheer spread of violence and wanton killings across the country have become too much of a burden for the government to handle, will it be out of place to demand from the Federal Government what its plan is towards ending the senseless killings especially in these states?

No fewer than 29 people have been killed in a fresh attack by bandits on Runji Village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The attack which occurred at about 10 p.m. penultimate Saturday night came barely three days after bandits killed eight people at the Atak’Njei community also in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area.

In the case of the killings in Southern Kaduna, while those who are pro-government would insist that the conflicts are politically-motivated, the locals insist that the killings are plots at ethnic-cleasing.

Some time in August 2020, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, warned that the “politically-motivated” Southern Kaduna killings had turned into ethno-religious conflict, urging an end to the mayhem. Those attacks and killings in Zangon Kataf, according to locals, at that time claimed 33 lives.

He was quoted to have said: “We strongly believe that the politically-driven crisis is being deliberately turned into an ethno-religious conflict of worrisome dimension.”

Meanwhile, leaders of the South South, South West, South East and Middle Belt represented by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and Middle Belt Forum (MBF), rose in defence of the Southern Kaduna natives, warning the Federal Government against the genocide allegedly perpetrated by armed Fulani herdsmen.

The then National President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Jonathan Asake, noted with regrets that instead of the authorities to tackle the genocide on his people (Southern Kaduna), the governments (federal and state) were explaining the reasons behind the killings.

In April 2021 the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufa, admitted paying ransom to bandits but vowed he won’t pay again even if they kidnap his son, adding also that anyone caught negotiating with bandits, on his government’s behalf, would be prosecuted. At least, that settles the argument that these felons are known and can be reached should the government decide to take the fight to them, if they want to do that.

Last week, Dio Maisamari, President of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, while lamenting the killings, said last Thursday that the government has deliberately refused to stop the killings of Southern Kaduna people. Maisamari, on Arise TV said that the government at the state and federal levels are not yet ready to end the spate of killings in Southern Kaduna.

He also blamed Governor El-Rufai for being partial in the handling of the insecurity and killings in Southern Kaduna.

Meanwhile, In Benue, the killings have been going on unabated.

Following killings by suspected herders in Benue State, which have left no fewer than 400 dead in three weeks, President Muhammadu Buhari asked security agencies to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to book.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, noted that the President said all efforts would be made to end the “extreme violence.’’

The worst hit in the recent attacks are communities in the Benue South District, the home of the Idoma-speaking people. Apa, Agatu and Otukpo axis of the area accounts for the majority of the casualties.

Several sources in the communities said Apa Local Government Area, LGA, alone recorded over 250 deaths while no fewer than 75 persons lost their lives in Otukpo LGA within this period.

Agatu LGA, which used to be the epicentre of herders’ incursions in Benue South, recorded minimal attacks with about 30 casualties.

Other places affected include Ikpobi, Odugbo, Ugbobi Akpanta, Ologba, Oyiji and Imana in Apa LGA. Oshigbudu Atakpa and Okpagabi in Agatu were also not spared.

The Christians Pentecostal Church, located at Akenawe, Tswarev in Ukemberagya/Tswarev Council Ward of Logo Local Government Area, LGA, was also attacked by the marauders, who killed a worshipper while the pastor of the church and others were abducted.

That attack was followed by the murder of the traditional ruler of Ugbobi community in Apa LGA. He was killed alongside several persons.

There was also the invasion of Umogidi village in Enetekpa Adoka District of Otukpo LGA where three persons were initially murdered by the marauders. Shortly after their burial, the invaders staged a comeback to the village, killing 51 persons.

Just when the people were yet to come to terms with the Umogidi massacre, the attackers stormed LGEA Primary School, Mgban, in Nyiev Council Ward of Guma LGA, where the traditional ruler of the community who lost two children in the attack confirmed the death of 39 persons while 38 others including children and women were left with severe injuries.

Concerned by the bloodletting, Buhari directed the secret services, police and military commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and to immediately review the security management in the affected areas.

Sadly, in a statement last Wednesday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, chose to play politics with the misfortune of the state by blaming the state governor, Samuel Ortom, for the killings.

He described Ortom as being “incompetent” in the face of rising insecurity in his state, saying his failure to win his senatorial bid was a statement of rejection by the people.

He said, “Fortunately, the people of Benue State know the truth. After all, it is they who have suffered under Ortom’s “leadership” – if one can call it such.”

“It is they who have experienced first-hand the mass killings, the torture, the litany of atrocities as Benue’s security situation plummeted ever further. It is they who buried their loved ones while watching their careless, irresponsible and incompetent governor politicise those freshly dug graves.

“And it is they who turned to the last privilege they had left: their democratic privilege, to resoundingly kick out Ortom and his so-called People’s Democratic Party in favour of a new governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Iornem Alia from Buhari’s party, the APC.”

Shehu said Buhari had taken steps to address the deteriorating situation in Benue but his efforts were blatantly obstructed by Ortom.

If Ortom is blamed for the killings in Benue, why is the Federal government explaining away the killings in Southern Kaduna and not blaming El-Rufai for it? The deaths in Southern Kaduna can equal that of Benue, why have those measures which Shehu said Ortom has not allowed to work not worked in Kaduna?

Ortom’s rejection of open grazing has remained his biggest problem with the Federal Government. It was in Benue after another incident of killings that President Buhari admonished the people to be good hosts to their attackers.

Is it also coincidental that whereas the killings in other parts of the North have been reduced, those of Benue and Southern Kaduna have gone on unabated?

Truth be said, only a new president, who would not apply double standards in fighting insecurity in the land that  can put an end to the Kaduna and Benue killings. This is so, because both  President Buhari and Gov El-Rufai have never given any reason to believe that they are prepared to do so. They have never hidden the fact that these marauders are of their ethnic stock.

Mocking Gov Ortom or blaming him for the worrisome state of insecurity in Benue, while pretending not to notice that of Kaduna, is disingenuous, to say the least, because he does have control over security and the president under whose purview that lies has simply dropped the ball. 

*Okoh is a commentator on public issues