Benue: We’re disappointed over Buhari’s visit –Tiv leader

Benue: We’re disappointed over Buhari’s visit –Tiv leader

Rose Ejembi, Makurdi

President General of Mdzough-U-Tiv, Edward Ujege has expressed disappointment over the recent visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Benue State. According to him, the expectation of the Benue people that the president, as a father would come and comfort them in their moment of trial was dashed as he (Buhari) refused to address the matters at hand. 

You were one of those who spoke at the town hall meeting held in Makurdi when President Muhammadu Buhari paid a condolence visit to the state. What were your takeaways from that meeting? 

I was one of the people who spoke at the meeting and in my speech, I gave credence to the fact that the state’s Open Grazing Prohibition law of 2017 came to being as a result of the suffering and killings that have been going on since 2010 and also made it clear to the president that the law was not responsible for the killings. We also informed him of the several other things the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and other of his appointees were saying that were not relevant in the Benue case, submitting their take also show a lot of hatred and dislike for us which probably indicated that they were misguiding him on the happenings here.

But I think we made a good case of it. We had expected that when he stood up, he would at least console us for the number of people killed which is over 2,000 and even far more. We also have close to 170,000 people in the eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the state at the moment. Our children are not going to school anymore. All sorts of things are happening to us as a people presently. As I said, we were expectant that a father has come to make pronouncements that would give us relief, but he said nothing to that effect. In fact, he spoke for around three to five minutes which was an anti climax because he didn’t comment on the people killed. For instance, in America when such things happen the president is there almost immediately to console and identify with the people but he didn’t identify with us. We expected that he would make a pronouncement or give us hope that he would compensate and give relief to the IDPs. We didn’t hear anything of sort.

We had requested for the security agents to make it possible for the IDPs to go back to their ancestral homes, there was nothing. So I don’t know whether it is his way of doing things but we had expected much more.

From the itinerary released before the visit, the president was supposed to visit one of the IDPs camps, the one in Gbajimba specifically but it was cancelled. Were you also disappointed that he couldn’t make it to that camp?

I don’t know what is happening to Benue State, the federal government and the government of Muhammadu Buhari. It looks as if the security agents that were sent here for the visit were so tensed. There were more Police than we have ever seen in the state. And compared to the time he gave to Nasarawa and Plateau States and other places he went I think he slept there and gave quality time to the people. Here we were given three minutes each to say whatever we wanted to say. Some of us had much to say but couldn’t. It was really unfortunate and I don’t know why. It looked as if he was trying to fulfil some requirements of government or so. He is our father, we voted for him and appreciated him and we were looking forward to him giving us a lot of solutions to the problems we have, but he said next to nothing. 

Some believe that with the visit of the president, the people of the state might enjoy some reprieve from the attacks in the rural communities by herdsmen; do you hold same view?

We pray and hope so but until the attitude of the security officers and ideology is changed. We were supposed to have a military Operation Ayem A’ Kpatuma or Cat Race to end the killings instead of the Exercise Ayem A’ Kpatuma that was launched. An operation is more intense because they will make sure that they disarm the invaders. Till today we do not know why it was changed to an exercise. The Inspector General of police also recently gave directives that vigilance groups and the likes should be disarmed across the country but he made no mention of the disarming of militia herdsmen which means they are allowed free hand to go about with AK47 riffles and the likes. So, on the part of restricting and monitoring the attackers who have sent our people away from their homes, we are looking forward to the military that are here and for the time they are here, they will be able to arrest the situation. With regards to the issue of food or whatever relief that could come to the displaced persons, we also expected that things would happen but the president said nothing, there was no promise. He said until he comes back for election before he would make promises, so I don’t know what that means.

Looking at the ongoing military exercise Ayem A’ Kpatuma, are you impressed with their performance so far?

So far not so good, but we expected more. You see, the major thing is that if you go to the eight IDP camps now, you will see that people are actually suffering, they are managing to feed. Water is a problem, places to sleep also. Majority of the people there are women and children, and the children are no more going to school which means that the economy is completely down. No farming activity is taking place. This development is a prelude to an economic disaster. We had expected that immediately the military came in they would have created an atmosphere that would allow and help the people go back to their ancestral homes and reclaim their places. You know that the crisis happened at a time when we were preparing for harvest. All the food, the entire yam and cassava and the rest of them have been destroyed and given to cows. So the economy of the state is down. So we are expecting much more from them. They have not carried out the first point of their assignment here, so how can we give them a pass mark? To me, it’s no, I am not giving them a pass mark, sorry about it. Until they stop the killings and ensure that the people return safely to their homes without further threats and attacks, before I can say the exercise has met the expectations of the generality of the people of our state.

What is the implication of the crisis to the food security of Benue State? 

Definitely it goes without saying that there is no food security. We may likely not be able to feed ourselves not to talk about commercial farming. There will be shortage of yam, cassava, millet name them. Even our oranges have been hacked down and destroyed. All our citrus trees have been destroyed. Those that do fishing from our rivers for business can no longer do that. Our animal husbandry has been affected also. You know that we do a lot of pig farming and all that. The invaders have killed all they met in our communities. In fact, Benue State and indeed the entire Nigeria would be adversely affected by the crisis. We all know that most of the oranges that go to the north come from Benue State, most of the cassava that go to the east come from Benue State, most of the yams that go to the south- east, south- south and south-west come from Benue State. The list goes on and on. So, it is a disaster obviously. It’s terrible I don’t even know how to describe the implication of this crisis.

Days ago, we all woke up to the shocking story of how women and children were massacred in Omusu village, Okpokwu local government area of the state. As the Chairman of the ethnic leaders of the state what was your first reaction to that incident?

Well, this is one of the ways to assess the Exercise A’ Akpatuma, and to assess the police force. My first reaction was that we had cried out to our President and he gave orders publicly and the security officers either have done enough or have not done enough by their own estimation. But the fact is that if they had done enough this issue wouldn’t have taken place. My first reaction is that the president should get them together, redirect them to ensure that it is the last that would happen in Benue State. We have suffered enough and we have really suffered in the hands of herdsmen. And we are looking forward to seeing a change and an end to the senseless killings in our state.

Are you pleased with the way Governor Samuel Ortom has been confronting the challenge of herdsmen incursions in Benue State?

Governor Ortom is a fantastic young man, he is a man of God and his motto is ‘In God We Trust.’ He is a man who is looking for peace for his own people. He is a man who is looking for security for his own people. He is a man who is looking for self determination for his own people. Governor Ortom has given his all to this struggle, but unfortunately he doesn’t have the security apparatus as given to him by the Constitution of the country. Although he is the chief security officer of Benue State, he doesn’t have the apparatus to enforce what he wants to do. He has said and done enough and we are very proud of him. You can imagine, the police are answerable to the federal government through the Inspector General of Police. And the IGP has been the worst person who has not done anything to help our situation here.

How can a man, see where people are being killed and say it is a communal clash? How can a man, see where people are being killed for many years, more than 15 years and the people find a solution to it through the enactment of a grazing law, come out to say it is because of the law that the people are being killed? How can a man wake up and say before you enact the law you must make sure there is a ranch and a free ranch is provided to the herdsmen? Is that possible? Is he running the duty of the judiciary, the legislature and the executive? He is not. Actually he has not helped matters, if he had not made any statement, the herdsmen wouldn’t have had the guts to come forward and attack us the way they have been doing.