No fewer than five soldiers and seven civilians were killed, Sunday morning, by suspected Fulani herdsmen in a fresh outbreak of a bloody crisis in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State.
Sources said the dead soldiers were part of the detachment of military personnel from the 72 Airborne Brigade in Makurdi who were dispatched to the crisis zone to maintain peace.
Contacted on the development, the state Commissioner for Works and Transport, Mr. John Ngbede, said the marauders attacked Agatu in their usual gorilla fashion at about 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the state secretary of Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, an umbrella body of the Fulani herdsmen, Garus Gololo, also expressed disgust at the renewed crisis.
“I am alarmed because this latest crisis is comming at a time when measures are being put in place to ensure a check on any form of crisis between Fulani herdsmen and their host communities in Benue State,” Gololo said.
The Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ezeala confirmed the story, saying: “Twelve persons were killed on Sunday in Agatu. The situation is under control now with the deployment of enough policemen to the affected places just as investigation into the matter has commenced”.
The issue of fulani attack on the good people of Benue State is a reccuring decimal, unfortunate and hazardiuos. It is high time the govert and security agencies in de state shuold find a lasting solution to this problem put forwad by de unwanted visitors.
This is one attack too many. From Gwer to Gwer-West. Makurdi to Guma and Apa to Agatu. Where are the Fulani heardsmen from? Sudan or Chad? Mali or Syria. It is high time the Federal Government traces where these heavily armed militia under the guise of fulani herdsmen are coming from and what is there real motive.. The meyyati Cattle breeders which forms the defence organ of these militia should be made to profer answers to the above otherwise you cannot defend who you do not know. Any fulani rearer running away from a war torn or femine country in the north or central Africa should know that other people have occupied where they are heading to. A fulani man remains the same but not every one of them was part of the 1914 amalgamation of what today constitutes the entity called Nigeria. Enough is enough.
Agatu has being a very peaceful area that accomodate visitors and having great and well behaved females where people from nooks and cranes of this country go and get their life partner. Business people are scartered in every parts of Agatu in buying food stuf and export them to other needed states for resale to earn a living, as Agatu is where most habitants of LG take farming in their fertile and river rich land as the only and most lucrative business they can depend. But since these ceaseless attacks from Fulani herdsmen started last year, the people had been suffering from serious hungry as many people has being chased out of their villages and those who cannot afford the cost of relocating to other LGs or states are now choked at the LG headquarter as the land and rivers used to earn their living from has now become a death trap as no one wants to loss his life.
Soldiers that are posted to keep peace in various parts of the country as a duty which they were employed to do have rather resorted to killing of those they claim to defend. We dont trust any soldier on the high way anymore. Not even in our villages e.g the case in guma, gwer west, agatu just to mention afew. Where the soldiers have being bought over and try to justify their masters pay. The FG must have to declare arms sale legal in nigeria cos even without its legality it is in the hands fulanis cum terrorist. We all have a right to defend ourselves.No one has the exclusive right to take innocent peoples lives.