…As Stakeholders Accused Taskforce of Complicity
AGATU (Benue State) – The Benue State Military Command of the Nigerian Army and Security Taskforce has been accused of alleged conspiracy and collusion with armed bandits and Fulani Herdsmen, just as stakeholders said that the security challenges confronting our country has began to take a new dimension.
This was revealed by some stakeholders who spoke on the condition of anonymity, following the serial violent attacks and counter attack that erupted during the maiming and killing of defenceless Christians, farmers and other villagers in Benue State and other parts of the country.
According to reports, Some members of the Agatu Vigilante Group who rose to resist the killings of defenceless Christians and several other innocent citizens in the country, have been declared wanted by the Military Command, in spite of the fact that the recurrent menace of armed nomadic Fulani herdsmen in the Middle-Belt and Southern parts of the nation seems to have gone unnoticed by the authorities, despite the countless deaths and destruction that these herdsmen have left in their merciless and unprovoked attacks.
The report said that trouble started for the Agatu Vigilante members in Benue State, when the marauding Fulani Herdsmen, heavily armed with AK-47 assault rifles and other sophisticated weapons, allegedly entered the farmlands and other parts of the Middle Belt Region of the country, with their herd of cattle and started eating up the crops of the Agatu villagers.
“When they were confronted by the Agatu Vigilante Group, they open fire on them and killed many of the Vigilante members and other local residents” as well as set fire of many residential propertyin the State, the reports added
An elder statesman of Egba community in Benue State, Elder Duke Ogbona told our correspondent that the killings in Agatu Local Government have been on since 2011.
According to him, over 100 people have been killed in Egba Community of Agatu in March 2015 alone. There has been countless of other killings, pillage, kidnap and rape cases all over the communities.
“It looks like they are hell bent to wilfully destroy us and occupy our land. It is more of religious, political and ethnic cleansing by the Fulani and the armed bandits, being tacitly aided by some military taskforce personnel, because, they are of the same religion”, Elder Ogbona added.
They sacked 28 villages in the area and most victims of the attack are mainly women, children and youths. They target churches, markets, schools, homes and public places with explosive devices.
Elder Ogbona further explained that the number of those killed is well above the official figures announced, since many more bodies were still being recovered from the villages, while many members of the vigilante group are still missing.
“I have no doubt in my mind that Benue Military Command and the Security Agencies in the State are colluding with armed bandits and Fulani Herdsmen to destroy our lives and property in the State”, Elder Ogbona added.
Rather than protect the ordinary citizens against the terrorists and go after the Fulani herdsmen and armed bandits, they are chasing the God-sent Vigilante Group and declaring them wanted. It is very unfortunate, Elder Ogbona concluded.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Military Command and the Security Taskforce have declared one Chukudi Godwin, 22 years of age and many others wanted in connection with the reprisal attack on the Fulani Herdsmen which led to the death of some Fulani herdsmen in the scuffle.
Others who were declared wanted are John Augustine, 20 years old; Dozie Ogochukwu, 32 years old and Solomon James, 25 years old. Others include Janet Uwaze, 26 years old and Abel Oshola, 19 years old; among many others.
Contacted, the spokesman of the State Command, represented by Sergeant Abdullahi Ahmed told newsmen that the members of Agatu Vigilante group were declared wanted for their complicity and killing of some members of the Fulani herders in the Benue State.
He explained that anybody with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the members of the Vigilante Group should report to the Military Taskforce Headquarters for a handsome reward.
However, the Nigeria nation seems enveloped in a vortex of crime, criminality and insecurity almost tilting towards a failed state. It is, however, hoped that the different law enforcement agencies will put their acts together to ensure that this nation does not continue on a trajectory of lawlessness and insecurity where life becomes nasty, solitary, brutish and short.
As at the time of filing in this report, the whereabouts of some members of the Agatu Vigilante Group is uncertain.
