Idoma Youth Assembly, the umbrella body of Idoma youths has
given three-week ultimatum to Fulani herdsmen residing in Benue South
Senatorial district to leave or have themselves to blame.
A statement signed by the President, Dr. Patriot Ocheya
Patrick Ekre, said the body has waited for so long believing that the federal government
will take decisive action to put an end to the incessant killings and wanton
destruction of lives and property in Idoma land and Benue State
as a whole but the reverse remained the case.
The group gave the herdsmen between now and April 15 to
relocate from Idoma land.
The statement reads, “We’ve come to realize the sadistic
attitude of the government towards the quandary state of our helpless people.
The first major attack was launched on a part of Idoma called Agatu, where over
300 persons were massacred by the Fulani’s herdsmen; nothing like mass burial
was organized for the dead.
“The river, which was known and used as source of income for
the farmers was completely made inaccessible because of the lifeless bodies
thrown into it.
“Some were left in an open field for the animals to feed on,
some escaped death with various degrees of injuries without any help, crops and
property worth millions were destroyed and to this moment hundreds of Agatus
are yet to return to their ancestral homes for fear of the Fulanis.”
“Shortly after the
massacre, our governor, Samuel Ortom with his counterpart, governor Tanko
Almakura of Nasarawa State instead of condoling with us for those we lost, regrettably
went ahead and ceded a portion of Agatu land to the same Fulani herdsmen, who
are killing us and as if that was not enough, the Army was sent to raid the
houses of law abiding citizens who are predominantly farmers.
“We’ve carefully observed the role and the body language of
both the state and federal governments and it’s quite disheartening to note
that they practically failed the electorates of their primary mandate which is
to give them protection. It shows how nonchalant and insensitive this
government is to the plight of the populace.
“Few days after the Agatu massacre, the IG of Police Solomon
Arase, sat in his office in Edet house, Abuja
and said to the world that it was only five persons that were killed in Agatu.
“Barely a year plus, similar incident occurred in Benue State another
IGP, Ibrahim Idris was ordered by the President to relocate to the state but he
defied the order, he went ant camped in a presidential lodge in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
“This has actually made it clear to the world the reason IG
Idris sealed the legitimate office of one of us, Ambassador, Dr, Dickson Akor,
the Commandant of Peace Corps of Nigeria over one year even when the court have
ordered the IG to unseal the premises in dual injunctions.
“The question here is, is the police boss still maintaining
the law and order or defying the same order he ought to preserve?”
“We therefore call
for the sack of IGP Ibrahim Idris with immediate effect and anything less than
that will invariably put the integrity of Mr. President to further questioning,
especially as Benue people wholeheartedly
voted for him.
Benue state is one of the
states that gave him the overwhelming votes that paved the way for him to enter
that office and all we can receive in turn is killing and molestation.
“Consequently, we want to categorically state here that we
are highly disappointed at the President Buhari’s visit to Benue State since
his visitation was not to proffer solution to the killings, rather it seems
we’ve been mocked and its quite unfortunate and amazing to hear from the Mr
President who casually stated thus, we quote, ‘I didn’t know the IG of police
never followed my orders’.
“For how long can we live in deceit and shift blames? Who is
to be blamed, the IG or Mr. President? And now that he’s aware that IGP
disobeyed his order what then is the sanction?
To our greatest surprise, Mr. President also stated that he told the Benue people many times to live in harmony with the
Fulanis! So we are to take all the blames for our killings. We are extremely
tired, Yes Nigeria
must move forward but we refuse to fold our hands and allow this planned agenda
going on in our land.
“Recently a woman stood in the hallowed chamber of the House
of Representatives to state and we quote, ‘who knows if God created Fulanis to
value the life of their cows more than human lives’ and one may ask if she was
elected by the cow or if she is representing animals in that chamber.
“Whatever we the good people of Idoma Nation and Benue state in general take exception to, that evil
comparative we condemn in totality and refuse to be replaced by cattle; we have
the right to live and as such we can no longer continue in this lamenting state
of life and governmental abandonment. We at this point concluded that President
is not for the people of Benue state,” the
statement declared.
“However, at this juncture, we task the Benue
state governor, Samuel Ortom to stop crying like a ‘drowning man’ as he was
tagged by the police spokesman, Moshood Jimoh.
He should rise to the occasion and do the needful by
strengthening the neighborhood watch; he should take a leeway from people like
the governor of Rivers state, Barr. Nyesom Wike, since this is an obvious and
deliberate attempt to reduce the Benue people
for political reasons.
“Conclusively, we give all Fulanis herdsmen between now and April
15, 2018 to leave of Idoma land since the government is not ready to protect us
from their swords and bullets.
“We are no longer asking Fulani herdsmen not to attack us
but we are giving them final quit notice. We have publicly sounded our warning,”
the group added.
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