By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, with additional report
More than 40 persons, including a family of seven, were killed in clashes between militia gangs in Gbagir community in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue on Tuesday.
A highly reliable military source said yesterday in Makurdi that security operatives had been deployed to restore normalcy.
However, he said locals in the area would need to furnish the operatives with credible information to succeed in the operation.
“It was militiamen that were killing themselves. One or two persons might have been caught in the crossfire, but the majority of the people who were killed were members of militia gangs in the area.
“The villagers know those carrying out this cowardly act but are shielding them. We saw several corpses. Suspected armed herders did not carry out the attack. It was a clash between two local militia groups,” the source said.
The police in Benue State also confirmed the clash and declared that only eight corpses had so far been recovered from the scene.
A spokesman for the Command, SP Sewuese Anene, told journalists that additional operatives had been deployed in the area to restore peace and order.
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Anene denied knowledge of any ongoing mass burial taking place in the community as was being rumoured.
An independent source in the area corroborated the position of the military source that most of the dead persons were members of the rival militia gangs.
He said about 12 farmers were caught in the crossfire, while many were still missing.
A traditional ruler in the area requested anonymity and said the bloody fight began on Tuesday morning.
He said a militia leader in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue went to the Chinkai community in the Wukari Local Government Area in neighbouring Taraba at the weekend and kidnapped a tribal militia leader.
He also kidnapped family members of the Chinkai militia leader, he added.
“After kidnapping them, he demanded N100m ransom but was given N5 million. After collecting the money, he killed his hostages. The murder of the hostages sparked outrage among members of the victims’ gang members in Taraba.
“A different militia gang leader in Ukum joined forces with the avenging militia gang from Taraba to help eliminate the Ukum gang leader who abducted and killed his Chinkai community victims. The essence was to enable him (the collaborator) to become the head of a militia gang in Ukum,” he said.
The traditional ruler said the combined forces of two different tribal militia gangs started moving into Gbagir bushes in their hundreds on Sunday to sack the gang that killed the Taraba militia gang leader.
“On Tuesday morning, the bloody fight ensued. From what we have heard, more than 45 persons, mainly bandits, have been killed. We also recorded about 12 farmers caught in the crossfire.
“More than 30 others were injured while some are still missing. Sadly, caught in the crossfire was a family of seven,” he added.
He also said that the armed men had also spread into bushes in the surrounding areas but could not move into residential areas because of the timely intervention of troops of “Operation Whirl Stroke” (OPWS).
“When people noticed the movement of the armed tribal militia groups into Benue communities, the chiefs informed political leaders, who briefed Governor Hyacinth Alia, who equally alerted the military for swift action.
“It was the timely response of the governor and the intervention of the OPWS that saved the people of Ukum Local Government Area,” he stressed.
READ ALSO:Only time can define decisions of true leader- Tinubu
*N’ Assembly to meet Tinubu over security challenges
The Senate yesterday resolved to dust all past resolutions of the National Assembly on the incessant killings across Nigeria for onward presentation to the executive arm of government for action.
The red chamber also faulted Nigeria’s security architecture, stressing that the armed forces have received adequate appropriations to deal with insecurity.
The resolution followed the approval of a motion by the Senator representing Benue North East Senatorial District, Emmanuel Udende, on the incessant killings of innocent people in the state.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, also lamented the unabated killings in Benue State and wondered why Governor Rev Fr. Hyacinth Alia has not been speaking up on the unfortunate development.
Udende, in his motion, expressed his most profound sadness that no fewer than 50 persons have been killed in fresh attacks on several communities in Kwande, Ukum, Logo, and Katsina-Ala Local Government Areas of Benue state by terrorists parading as herdsmen.
He said the development was increasing insecurity in the affected local government areas in the state.
*Akpabio berates Gov Alia over silence on Benue killings
Akpabio challenged the state Governor to express concern about the situation.
He also disclosed that he and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, will soon schedule another meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
The Senate President said, “The primary responsibility of the state government is to use the security vote to ensure that the security of lives and properties in Benue state is protected.
“The first line of thought is the government of Benue, and as Senator Udende brought up, we have not heard any comments from the government of Benue.
“If 50 people and communities are attacked, we will expect that the government will marshal out plans with the immediate security operatives within the affected states and see what they can do before bringing it to the President.
“I want to assure you that President Bola Tinubu, though he has not stayed long in office, is supportive of the Armed Forces’ activities.
“By the time the Senate meets with him in conjunction with the House of Representatives, the resolutions we come out with will benefit the entire country.
“Since he assumed duties, insecurity has abated, and major attacks are no longer taking place, but this one is just an aberration, and it will be brought to an end.
“I assure the good people of the areas affected that this matter is now on the floor of the Senate, and we are taking serious actions with the presidency to ensure that normalcy is restored to the areas and the victims are also taken care of.”
As part of the resolution, the Senate mandated the leadership of the National Assembly to pay a visit to President Bola Tinubu on the security situation with a summarised committee reports’ recommendations on security by the 8th, 9th, and 10th Assembly to order solutions on insecurity.
The red chamber also urged the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, and other security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, deploy security personnel to address the continuing and ongoing attacks by armed terrorists parading themselves as headmen in the area.
In their various contributions, senators lamented that the insecurity situation in Benue had not improved since the Senate had over 10 hours of meetings with the Service Chiefs recently.
Senator Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), President of the 9th Senate and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, said the Nigerians were tired of seeing senators always observing one-minute silence over incessant killings of innocent souls in the country.
He said, “The constitutional amendment is coming. I am still trying to figure out what we can do better, but the security architecture in Nigeria today has failed woefully.
“I have said this many times, even in the previous assemblies, that this thing is not working. We have to find something that works.”
*Marafa seeks probe of murdered Zamfara cleric
Meanwhile, Senator Kabiru Marafa has condemned the killing of a prominent Islamic scholar, Imam Abubakar Hassan Mada, in Mada Town, Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State, on Tuesday, allegedly by members of the state-owned Community Protection Guards (CPG).
Community leaders and credible witnesses said the cleric was slaughtered on Tuesday around 7pm by members of the CPG, a few metres away from Mada Town.
Recall that members of the CPG killed last month, Alhaji Magaji Lawali, an associate of Senator Marafa. The dust over the killing of Magaji Lawali is yet to settle as his family members are seeking a probe.
Marafa, in a statement yesterday, described the act as the peak of inhumanity against fellow human beings, calling for a thorough probe.
He said, “I call on the Zamfara State Government to come out clean out of these atrocities committed by the Community Protection Guards (CPG) members.
“If they are not acting the script of the state government to wipe out members of the opposition party, the state government should, as a matter of urgency, arrest and commence an open, thorough, and transparent investigation into the circumstances that led to the brutal murder.”
