Insensitive comments on Benue killings

TEARS of blood flowed freely from blood shot eyes in Makurdi, the Benue state capital when 73 dead bodies, victims of the New Year day massacre by Fulani herdsmen were given a mass burial by the Benue state government last week. Some of the developments on this issue of the Benue killings are quite troubling and worrisome. The statement by Anthony Sani, National Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) concerning the Benue killings is regrettable and should be condemned by all and sundry.

I condemn the statements attributed to the governors of Nassarawa and Plateau states, Messrs Umaru Tanko Al-makura and Simon Lalong, that they warned Governor Ortom not to implement the anti-open grazing law as it would lead to unnecessary crisis. They easily forget that it was an attempt by Governor Ortom to put an end to the unending massacres of the Benue people by Fulani herdsmen since 2011 that precipitated the anti-open grazing law in the first instance.

Moreover, I consider them as nothing but meddlesome interlopers who rather than focus on governance in their states are more interested in the non passage of a bill that had over 90 per cent of the Benue people supporting it.

The statement of leaders of Miyetti Allah betrays insensitivity and blackmail. What exactly do they mean when they say, “We condemn the killings but oppose the anti-open grazing law in Benue”?

Let me attempt an interpretation. “The killings in Benue are as a result of the anti-open grazing law. Repeal the law and there will be peace.

The police have proved it cannot handle the matter; the solution to the ongoing genocide is for the military to be drafted in to restore peace through the establishment of a military base in Benue. Governor Samuel Ortom and prominent indigenes both at home and abroad should reach out to the International Community in order to stop this pogrom. Media evidence (voice recordings, video recordings tweet, e.t.c) of threats by leaders of Miyetti Allah to annihilate the Benue people should be filed in the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, in the Netherlands charging them with crimes against humanity and genocide.

• Peter Ovie Akus

Plot 16, block 33, Ogun Housing Estate, Ifo, Ogun State.