TAIWO FAROTIMI
Barely 24 hours after Mansur Al Ali, minister of defence made public his advice against anti-grazing law , Benue State has recorded another deadly attack. Reports say that some militants suspected to be herdsmen invaded Guma Local Government area in the wee hours of Wednesday , June 6, 2018 killing eight people and wounding scores of others.
Anthony Shawon, chairman of Guma LGA said the herdsmen invaded The Shan in Sagyev, within the local government area at “about 3:00 am”, killing , as he said “the villagers in their sleep”. By the time they left the village, eight people were reported dead, while a number of others were said to have been seriously wounded. The casualties, according to Shawon, included two students who had gone to the village with the purpose of writing the ongoing National Examination Council, NECO exams. The invaders who are said to have launched the attack from Logo local government area also reportedly killed another person (thus bringing the casualty figures to nine), wounding some others on their way back to Logo.
The corpses and the wounded have been moved to Gbajimba General Hospital.
The minister had in a statement hinted that he advised at the council of states meeting that the federal government should suspend all anti-grazing laws to ease tension in areas where there had been reports of attacks by the herdsmen. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State promptly responded, condemning the call by the minister and wondering why the federal authorities appear to be shying away from assisting the herdsmen to embrace modern system of animal farming. He also drew the attention of the minister to the apparent contradiction in his call and the practice of federalism. Benue State had witnessed increased attack because of the rejection of the anti-grazing law by Miyetti Allah, the body that speaks for the herdsmen. Fayose’s Ekiti had enacted a similar law , but herdsmen in the area appears comfortable with the content of the Ekiti law, as northern leaders even visited Fayose to embrace the law.
Among states along the passage of the nomadic Fulani, Benue has come under a most devastating attack by the herdsmen. Governor Samuel Ortom, who say the attacks were successfully carried out despite submission of security information to the presidency and the security forces, insists that the only solution is that herdsmen who cannot subscribe to the local laws should relocate.
The development had led people in the affected areas in Taraba, Benue, Nassarawa, Yobe and Zamfara to insinuate that the militants had the backing of top officials of government at the Centre. Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, both spokespersons for President Muhammadu Buhari have, however, debunk such insinuations has unfounded.
