Cephas Iorhemen 
Benue is one state that has been notorious for herders/farmers crisis that has left many people at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps, despite efforts by the former Governor Samuel Ortom. However, with the assumption of office of Governor Hyacinth Alia, many had expected a change in the security situation in the state. In this report by CEPHAS IORHEMEN, nothing seems to have changed
A new era
When Governor Hyacinth Alia came to power on May 29, one of the major challenges he met was the worsening insecurity occasioned by farmers/herders crisis, kidnapping and other forms of criminality. Apparently miffed by the development, the Governor promised to prioritise the security of lives and property of people of the state by ending the menace.
While the issue of killing of innocent people by suspected armed Fulani terrorists may have been reduced to some reasonable level, the activities of kidnappers has continued to increase in communities of the state despite efforts by the present administration in the state to curb the menace.
Increasing cases of kidnapping
Dozens of cases of kidnapping have been reported by the state police command since the beginning of this year, some of the victims which include medi- cal doctors, travelers, school children, Catholic Priests, farmers and recently the Commissioner of Information Culture and Tourism in the Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration, Mr. Mathew Abo and former Chairman Ukum Local Government Area, Mr. Iorwashima Eruka all in Zaki-Biam also fell victims. Just six months ago, a staff of the Health Department in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, Mr. Shimayina Christopher and three others, all of Naka town were arrested for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of one Msuega Abebe in Naka town.
In June this year, the Police in the state rescued a kidnapped Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Anthony Adikwu of the Otukpo Catholic Diocese. Father Adikwu was kidnapped at the Parish House, St. Margaret’s Ajegbe Awume, Ohimini LGA, on June 16, 2023. He was rescued four days after he was kidnapped by operatives of Operation Zenda, a joint security taskforce in the state. No ransom was paid in spite of the kidnappers demanding N50 million. Also in July this year, the police in the state apprehended six kidnappers among them an armed robbery suspect that had been terrorising the people of Ogbadibo, Logo and Gboko local gov- ernment areas of the state.
The then Commissioner of Police, CP. Okoro Alawari Julius, disclosed this when he paraded the suspected criminals at the Command’s headquarters in Makurdi, the state capital. The suspected kidnappers, CP Ala- wari, said were nabbed following reports of kidnapping within Ogbadibo and Ohimini local government areas. On September 28 this year, the police arrested four suspected kidnappers who abducted four girls and two women in Agbanor village of Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state. The victims were kidnapped on their way to the farm in Utonkon district of the local government at about 1700hrs.
The state Command’s spokesperson, SP Catherine Sewuese Anene, said that they were abducted after a tip off from the Ado Police Division. Anene said “during investigation, the police in collaboration with other security agencies trailed and stormed their hideout in Agbanor village, Okpokwu Local Government. “On sighting the police, one of the suspects engaged them in a gun duel, but was overpowered by the police and arrested with one single barrel gun loaded with two live cartridges. Three other suspects were also arrested within the area.
“A search conducted in the hideout led to the rescue of the six victims who have received treatment at the hospital and reunited with their families while investigation is ongoing to arrest suspects at large,” she said.
Governor’s quit notice
Apparently miffed by the recalcitrant spate of kidnapping, Governor Alia said that banditry and terrorism will no longer be tolerated in the state under his watch. The governor lamented the kidnapping of his Commissioner of Information Culture and Tourism, Mr. Mathew Abo who was abducted at his residence at Zaki-Bi- am in Ukum Local Government Area, and appreciated the family of the kidnapped Commissioner for their patience, disclosing that government was working with security agencies towards his rescue, expressing optimism that “there will be good news soon”.
It is worrisome to note that, though, the Commissioner has regained freedom after ten days in captivity, communities of the state are still under siege due to worsening insecurity.
Governor speaks on release of his commissioner
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Tersoo Kula who confirmed the release of the Commissioner said “no ransom or any other monetary exchanges were involved in securing his release. Rather, his release was as a result of intense pressure on the criminals from the gallant security operatives who were acting on the directives of Gov. Hyacinth Alia, who had earlier given marching orders to them to ensure Mr. Abo’s release.
“However, the criminals are still in custody of the former Chairman Ukum LGA, Mr. Washima Erukaa and his cousin who it was learnt discreetly went to negotiate with the kidnappers and was also kidnapped.” Mr. Kula quoted his principal as expressing delight over the release of government’s image maker and warned criminals operating within the state to leave for good, insisting that they will not be tolerated in any form.
The Governor, Kula said appreciated the security operatives for the feat, and charged them to continue their actions in order to get the remaining captives released. He charged the security operatives to be ruthless on criminals, ensuring they have no room to operate in the state.
Court remands 6 suspected cultists, armed robbers, others
As part of efforts to tame criminality in the state, six persons were remanded by a Makurdi Magistrates’ court, over alleged armed robbery, kidnapping, cult- ism, act of terrorism, and attempt to commit culpable homicide. The Magistrate, Mrs Adah Jack, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction. Jack ordered that they be remanded at the Makurdi Correctional Centre pending the conclusion of investigations, and then adjourned the case for further mention.
Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Insp. Re- gina Ishaya, had told the court that the defendants were arrested following intelligence gathering by the men of Operation Zenda, JTF headquarters, Makurdi. “This information was gathered from the Department of State Services (DSS), that members of an armed robbery syndicate, who have been terrorising the residents of Kighir and Adeka communities in Makurdi, were sighted in the area,” Ishaya said.
She further told the court that the team, led by Insp. Audu Ogbeche, had on different occasions, stormed the gangs hideout in Adeka, Kighir and Kanshio, all within Makurdi Metropolis. The prosecutor alleged that on sighting the security operatives, the suspects opened fire, but they were repelled. According to her, one Teryima Jude was arrested alongside his gang members; Tersoo Gowon, aka General, Atseriyol Ikya, Maker Dzungwenen, Terver Iortimber and Gowon Akatakpo, the blacksmith who services their operational weapons.
Ishaya said during police investigations, some of the victims identified the arrested gang members, who also confessed to the crime, as well as belonging to the Junior Vickings confraternity (JVC). She said items recovered from the suspects included one single barrel gun, two locally made pistols, five live cartridges, four expended empty shells of cartridges, assorted criminal charms, two dane guns, and one red beret of the JVC cult. The prosecutor added that investigations were still ongoing, and asked the court for an adjournment.
She said the offences contravened the Robbery and Firearms Special Prohibition Act 2004. “And hostage taking, kidnapping, secret cult membership and similar activities, contravene the Prohibition Laws of Benue State 2017, and Section 230 of the Penal Code, Laws of Benue State 2004.
SOS to governor
Residents of three communities in Benue State have appealed to the Governor to come to their aid over incessant cult-related killings. The three communities located in Benue South Senatorial District – Ugbokolo, Amejo, and Okonobo – have been in the throes of daily killings by youths who are members of rival cult groups. At least 10 persons were murdered in August in Ugbokolo town. The killing led to a grounding of socio-economic activities around the nearby Benue State Polytechnic.
In a bid to arrest the ugly development, an umbrella body for the affected communities, Edema Development Association (EDA), in a statement, drew the governor’s attention to rampant cult-induced killings in the communities “We also call on the Benue State Gov- ernment under Governor Hyacinth Alia to set up a probe panel to investigate and proffer solutions to the increasing cases of cultism, which we gathered, is very much alive in virtually all communities across the state,” the statement issued by Michael Agbam, the national president of Ede-ma, said.
Mr Agbam explained that Edema as a progressive civil society organisation believes “cultism and indeed all forms of criminality and violence, in any part of the state constitute a danger to the security of lives and property.” Mr Agbam said the association was speaking up about the incident a month after its occurrence due to the alleged failure of the police to bring the perpetrators of the killings to book.
“We had also expected that the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force, are fully on the ground and therefore ought to have quickly responded to such open criminality to restore public order and confidence. This was however not the case in view of the litany of violence in which cult groups openly chase and hack perceived rivals to death in broad daylight.”
Efforts at curbing cultism
However, the spokesperson of the Benue State police command, Sewuese Anene, disagreed with Mr Agbam’s allegation regarding police failure in responding to the violence. “There was a cult clash in Ugbokolo which police intervened swiftly and it was brought under control. One person was killed,” Mr Anene told an online news medium in a WhatsApp message.
Earlier, Philip Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/ Ogbadibo Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, condemned the “barbaric” killings. Mr Agbese urged, “law enforcement agencies to rise to the occasion of restoring peace and order in the town.”
“He also charged operatives to launch a full investigation into the matter and those responsible should be apprehended and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other cult members or intending members terrorising the town,” a statement issued by one of Mr Agbese’s spokesperson, Oche Ekwote, said. Ugbokolo and its environs have been in the grips of gun violence for a couple of years now. The resurgence in killing has been traced to the proliferation of small and light weapons in communities.
CP reads riot act
Recently, the Benue State police commissioner, Bartholomew Onyeka, ordered a crackdown on persons in possession of illegal firearms. Still on the rising crime wave, the state Police Command also paraded four suspects in connection with their alleged involvement in the murder of retired Justice of the Customary Court, Margaret Igbetar at her Makurdi residence on August 22, 2023.
Performing the ceremony at the Force headquarters in Makurdi, CP Onyeka, listed the suspects to include the deceased’s nephew, Joseph Audu, Zungwenen Ukor, Barnabas Akuhwa Tor and Igbazenda Gbidye. According to the CP, the four suspects had conspired to commit the act and had allegedly confessed to the com- mission of the crime when the team of Operation ZENDA arrested them at their various hideouts.
CP Onyeka explained that the Command also recorded some breakthroughs by arresting cultists, robbers, rapists, and arms dealers, and recovered various weapons such as AK-47 rifles among others. One of the suspects, a nephew to late Justice Igbetar, Mr. Joseph Audu, alleged that the late Justice held land documents of his late father and refused to surrender them even when she was invited to a family meeting in Kwande Local Government Area.
Following this development, he (Audu) recruited Ukor to assist in eliminating Igbetar in order to remove the said land papers from her possession and on getting to her Makurdi residence, Ukor confessed to stabbing Justice Igbetar in the chest with a knife while Audu struck her with a stick. Another suspect, who was a driver to the late Justice, one Barnabas Akuhwa Tor, admitted that Audu had been pestering him to remove the said land papers for him and on that fateful day, three of them came but did not tell him that their mission was to kill Justice Igbetar.
“I was at the gate and later left for Dunamis Church. When I returned, I could not find them, but on going round the compound, I saw them dragging her. When I asked, they asked me to forget it.” One of the aged suspects, Igbazenda Gbidye, a resident of Ajio in Kwande Local Government Area, confessed that it was Ukor who asked him to come and show him the compound, as he was not conversant with Makurdi town.
Apart from these forms of criminality, another worrisome aspect is that of armed herdsmen attacks which has left scores of people homeless and others still languishing in penury in designated IDP camps. Statistics available to New Telegraph reveal that over two million people including women and children are wallowing in squalor in the camps, while many of the children are out-of-school as a result of the recalcitrant attacks.
New Telegraph has observed that no day passes by without an attack by the herders been recorded. It is indeed worrisome because the herder’s imbroglio has left the state gov- ernment grappling with how to meet the challenge confronting victims in terms of how to provide relief materials to them.
Commendation for Ortom
Former Governor of the state, Chief Samuel Ortom deserves a pat on the back for setting up volunteer guards in his efforts at ensuring that people of the state sleep with their two eyes closed. The aim was to complement efforts of conventional security agencies tackle the worsening insecurity situation in the state especially at the rural areas. Ortom said added that the volunteer guards were not established for political purposes.
He stressed the need for Nigerians to encourage community-based solutions for security, and tasked men of the volunteer guards to avoid the temptation of abusing the powers conferred on them by the state’s law. The former Governor also signed the now widely accepted Anti-Open Grazing, Kidnapping Bills into law. The main target of the laws was to end herdsmen and farmers crisis and to stop kidnapping, abduction and cultism among other criminal activities.
The laws are: A Law to Prohibit Open Grazing and Rearing of Livestock and provide for the Establishment of Ranches and Livestock Administration, Regulation and Control and for Other Matters Connected Therewith, 2017 and “A (bill for a law to make provision for the prohibition of) Law for Prohibition of Abduction, Hostage Taking, Kidnapping, Secret Cult and Similar Activities in the state and for Purposes connected therewith, 2017.
He noted that the two laws are intended to put a stop to criminal activities in the state and bring about peace to create a good atmosphere for investors to invest in the state. Part of the penalties of the law for prohibition of kidnapping, abduction cultism and hostage taking among others as read by the governor, says ‘Anyone who kidnap, abduct, or unlawfully detain another person, if convicted small be sentenced to death. He also said any persons who will- fully allow his premises or one has control over to be used in keeping persons taken hostage shall be liable to death on conviction.
According to him, the law also prevent voluntary hostage for the purpose of demanding ransom, fraud or with the intention to compel another person to do or refrain from doing an act, or who engages in cultism shall, if found guilty, such a person shall be liable to ten (10) years imprisonment without an option of fine. He noted that the Anti-Open Grazing Law will put an end to the herdsmen/ farmers crisis and allow for better way of animal husbandry.
“With the signing of the anti- open grazing bill, we are not saying Fulani people should leave Benue, but they can stay and ranch their cattle. The law does not apply only to Fulani people, but even indigenes who keep livestock must have to ranch their animals also,” he noted.
He said the law provided that any person found moving livestock on foot within or across urban centre, rural settlements or any part of the state commits an offence and is liable to, for the first offender, N500, 000 fine or one year imprisonment or both and for the second offender, N1 million fine or three years imprisonment or both. The law also provides three or five years imprisonment or N100,000 and N500,000 fine for those who rustle cattle and those who rustle cattle and maim or injure respectively.
Governor Alia backs law against open- grazing
Meanwhile, Governor Hyacinth Alia has also thrown his weight behind the Anti-Open Grazing Law to check the excesses of the herdsmen in the state. The governor, who addressed journalists via his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Tersoo Kula, in company of security chiefs at the end of the state’s Security Council meeting in the state, recently maintained the need for stakeholders in the various sectors to ensure enforcement of the law that has come to stay.
Alia urged the stakeholders to ensure sincerity during enforcement of the law while emphasis should be on prevention of attacks instead of the reactionary approach. The governor added that efforts would be made to ensure a peaceful environment in order to return displaced people back to their ancestral homes. Benue people are indeed peace loving and anything that would conspire to jeopardize this widely accepted notion would be resisted.
