No fewer than 100 women, children and Tiv farmers have reportedly
been slaughtered in the last two weeks by invading Fulani herdsmen,
following the renewed bloodbath and invasion of Tiv communities in Guma
Local Government area of Benue State by Fulani herdsmen.
Immediate past Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, and
member representing Guma State Constituency, David Iorhemba made this
known yesterday in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi.
Iorhemba lamented that despite efforts to stem the crisis in the
hinterland of the state, cases of silent killings and destruction of
property were still being reported by the natives adding that in his
village at Yogbo, no fewer than 26 persons were allegedly murdered by
the Fulani marauders in the last few days. He lamented that the crisis
was taking its toll on farmers in the affected communities as farm land
and crops had been destroyed, making it difficult to get seedlings for
planting this farming season.
He said, ‘’the invasion of my constituency in Guma Local Government
area by Fulani herdsmen is alarming. It is like a deliberate move to
wipe out the Tiv race; it is unfortunate that our people will become
refugees in their fatherland as a result of incessant Fulani invasion.
Just yesterday night (Wednesday ) a woman and her son were reported
killed around Atteh by the Fulani,” he said, and accused the people
living in border villages in Nasarawa State of harboring the herdsmen.
According to him, ‘’it is unfortunate that our neighbors in Nasarawa
State accommodate these marauders from where they move to our villages
to unleash terror on us. If you move around you will discover that no
Fulani is living around the border.’’
Iorhemba further said that there was no way the Tivs and Fulanis
could live together because of their type of jobs noting, ‘’we are
farmers while the Fulani are cattle rear-res, so is better we part
ways.’’
While commending the efforts of both the Nasarawa and Benue State
governments to stem the crisis through the joint peace committee set up
in 2011, Iorhemba suggested that the security personnel attached to the
hinterland in Tiv land should be dispatched to the border areas to
prevent the incursion of the Fulanis into the Tiv villages.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to create grazing routes
for the Fulani herdsmen in order to stem recurring bloodbaths in rural
communities across the country.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
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