No fewer than 45 people including some unidentified security operatives were yesterday killed by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen in Agatu local government area of Benue State.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the gruesome killings occurred on Sunday night when about 700 armed men invaded the area. They were said to have killed 38 persons on Sunday while the others were murdered in another fresh attack in the early hours of yesterday (about 5am) when the people who were mainly farmers had not woken from sleep.

Up until yesterday, the entire Agatu LGA was surrounded by the suspected herdsmen. Thousands of people including fishermen and government workers were displaced, while many others reportedly fled to Ogbokpo, the headquarters of Agatu LGA, and to some other neighbouring Igala villages in Kogi State.

Another source claimed that over 80 people were killed during the attack on Sunday, adding that it was during the burial of one of the elders of Igwule village that the mercenaries invaded the communities, killing people and burning houses.

All the villages of Agatu LGA, churches, market places, schools and government offices were closed down, just as workers could not go to work for fear of being killed by the suspected herdsmen.

The state deputy governor, Chief Steven Lawani, commissioner for works and transport, Mr John Ngbede, and the member representing Agatu constituency in the state assembly, Mr Audu Sule, who paid a visit to the area could not gain entry into the affected communities due to insecurity in the area.

Mr Sule, whose village was completely razed, narrated the incident to LEADERSHIP yesterday, saying that about 38 bodies were recovered while more corpses were being packed from the bush after the early morning attack of yesterday.

Sule said, “Armed men numbering over 700 had crossed over from Nasarawa through the Agatu River and invaded the communities, burning about five villages. They overpowered security men and started killing our people. Those who were displaced are now taking refuge in buildings of various primary schools in Ogbokpo town.”

The lawmaker added that, based on the information gathered, the mercenaries had planned to attack the Tiv-speaking people of Gwer West LGA who, he said, were allegedly in dispute with the herdsmen. He stated that the herdsmen had attacked Agatu in order to create an easy access into Gwer West.

Meanwhile, Benue State governor Gabriel Suswam has described the attack as unwarranted and said that the state government was liaising with the police and men of the SSS to evolve measures that would arrest the situation.

Suswam, who said the attack was devastating, however, appealed for calm from the victims of the attack and assured of government’s support to the displaced.

The commissioner of police, Benue State command, Mr Kakwe Chris Katso , confirmed the attack. He said the command was yet to ascertain the number of deaths, adding that men of the command deployed to the affected area were on ground to maintain peace.

Again, Jonathan meets with security chiefs

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday met with security chiefs for over one hour at the presidential villa, Abuja, to mull the way forward on the killings across the country that reached an alarming proportion last week.

Also in attendance at the meeting were the national security adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd); the director-general of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr Ita Ekpeyong; and the inspector-general of police, Muhammad Abubakar.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the closed-door meeting with the security chiefs followed a report in which some persons in the country accused the federal government of doing nothing to address the security menace since the various killings at different parts of the country, including Borno, Nasarawa and Benue states occurred.

But Jonathan was said to have demanded to know what the security chiefs had done so far to address the security situation in the country, particularly the killing of over 90 policemen by Ombatse cultists in Alakyo town of Nasarawa State.

The president had, last Friday, held a similar meeting with the security chiefs barely hours after he aborted his trip to Namibia as a result of the upsurge of violence in the country.

After the security meeting at the presidential villa, the president held another meeting with the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform led by Prof. Peter Adeniyi, which also submitted its 2012 annual report.

 

Boko Haram: We solve our problems our own way – CDS

The chief of defence staff, Admiral Ola Saa’d Ibrahim, has said that external forces that are waiting to intervene in the internal security challenges confronting Nigeria would be disappointed because the Nigerian armed forces have resolved to solve those problems the Nigerian way.

Ibrahim made this known yesterday in his office while welcoming a delegation of Course 52 of the National Defence College of India who are visiting the country as part of their programme.

He said although several security challenges with their peculiarities were facing the country despite the limited resources, the military was on top of the situation.  

He said, “Defence Headquarters today manages practically all the crises in-house because we drag from all the forces to solve the problem in Nigeria. And as I am talking to you, I would be talking to the Senate committee on defence, security and intelligence on matters affecting us in the north-eastern part of our country; in the middle belt there is another operation going on there; and in the south-south, three sets of operations with different peculiarities.

“They don’t look alike: different challenges, different colourations. And, thankfully, we inherited a robust armed forces from our heroes past. We celebrate that and through a combination of resilience and the ‘can-do’ spirit, we will solve all the problems our own way, deploying whatever capability at our disposal.”

 
Boko Haram claims responsibility for Bama killings

The purported head of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has said the sect was responsible for two recent deadly attacks in Baga and Bama, Borno State, in a video obtained by the Agence France Presse (AFP) yesterday. The video also shows women and children apparently being held hostage and Shekau, seated on a rug with a Kalashnikov AK-47 resting behind his right shoulder.

“We are the ones that carried out the Bama attack,” Shekau said in the Hausa language, referring to the May 7 assault that killed 55 people, mostly soldiers and police.

“We also carried out the attack in Baga,” he further said of the April 16 raid in the town near Lake Chad that sparked clashes with soldiers which killed nearly 200.

Nigeria’s military has been accused of causing scores of deaths in the Baga violence by deliberately setting fires that razed thousands of homes.

“It was you, the security agents, that went into town the following day and burnt homes and killed people at will,” Shekau said.

The military has fiercely denied the reported abuses by its soldiers, insisting that only 37 people died in the Baga violence, including 30 suspected Islamists.

Some seven minutes into the 12-minute video message, the screen splits, showing Shekau on the left with a group of unidentified women and children on the right.

The sect leader claimed this group is being held hostage in retaliation for the wives and children of Boko Haram members detained by the military.

“As long as we do not see our women and children we will never release these women and children,” Shekau said.

The insurgents have repeatedly accused the military of arresting their family members.

The images of Shekau resemble those previously released by the group and the message was distributed by email, in a manner consistent with earlier Boko Haram messages.

 
NHRC begins probe of killings of policemen in Nasarawa

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has begun investigation into the killing of an unspecified number of police officers and security personnel in Alakyo village in Nasarawa State last week.

Reports from various sources have indicated that scores of security personnel were allegedly murdered by members of the Ombatse militia group.

A statement by the NHRC’s director public affairs and communications, Mr Mohammed Ladan, quoted the executive secretary of the NHRC , Prof Bem Angwe, as saying this while receiving a preliminary investigation report on the incident in Abuja yesterday,

The NHRC boss added that the gruesome murder of security personnel who were carrying out their lawful duty is a violation of their right to life, an affront on the rule of law and a drawback to the efforts being made to contain the cycle of violence in the various parts of the country.

Angwe added that the action of those who perpetrate these atrocities must be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians and that all hands must be on deck to bring them to justice.

He said, “As a national human rights institution, we are deeply concerned over the senseless killings by Ombatse cult members and many violent acts in other parts of the country. Investigations are already being conducted by the commission and I wish to assure the IGP and all Nigerians that appropriate recommendations will be forwarded to government at the end of the exercise.”

 Angwe also condoled with the inspector-general of police and urged him not to be distracted by the incident.

 

Nasarawa govt. gives N1m each to families of slain security operatives

Respite has at last come the way of the bereaved families and relations of the victims of the Alakyo killings, who gathered yesterday at the Nasarawa state police headquarters, to collect cheques of monies donated by Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura towards alleviating the plight of the widows and children of the slain security operatives.

While speaking with LEADERSHIP, Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura the haste at disbursing the money was to cushion the effect of the trauma the widows are going through saying “when I saw these women I was deeply touched and took the decision to give them a million naira each”.

At a brief ceremony, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Micheal Zokumour ,  described the killing of scores of policemen by members of the Ombatse last Tuesday as, “the worst in police history,” vowing that everything would be done to bring the perpetrators to book.

According to the AIGP, while it is the work of the devil to steal, destroy and kill, the police are like angels on earth, being everywhere there is trouble to make sure there is peace, stressing that, “any society where there is no policeman, that society is gone, any society that does away with the police, that society has done away with itself.”

While consoling the bereaved women and relations, Zokumour said the police compliment Almakura’s efforts by taking care of the widows and children of the slain policemen by making sure that all their entitlements are paid as soon as possible.

On her part, Hajiya Zainab Abdulmumini, secretary to the Nasarawa state government, who stood in for Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, who was away to Abuja to confer with the President as well as the military top brass, in a bid to find lasting solutions to the security challenges in the state, condoled with the widows and relations of the slain policemen.

According to her, the open cheques to be issued to them, as promised by the state government, was only meant as financial assistance to help them toward the burial arrangements of their loved ones.

Responding on behalf of the widows, Fatima Monday, made a case for the state government to sponsor the children of the deceased policemen from the primary school to the university, as has been done by other states in the country.

Source: Leadership