Fear pervades Zaki-Biam town over fresh killings
Residents of Zaki-Biam, a once boisterous commercial yam market town in Benue State, are living in fear following renewed killings by gunmen.
Fear continues to grip resident of Zaki-Biam in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State occasioned by fresh killings by gunmen. The town famous for yam cultivation in recent times has lost its glory of bustling businesses as merchants who thronged the area on market days from across the country, no longer do so in their large numbers.
The fast declining status of the town as a result of insecurity, no doubt, was sequel to the March 2017, cruel attack on the yam market by gunmen who allegedly rode on 12 Bajah motorcycles as well as four Toyota Corolla cars and opened sporadic gunfire and killed at least 18 people.
Locals in the area believed that the death toll was above 52 but the police had confirmed 18 people killed and 11 injured in the attack which it largely blamed on a wanted notorious militia kingpin, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as “Gana.”
Sadly, the killings of some officials in the market have continued unabated while people within Zaki-Biam communities too are not spared in the current nightmare.
Residents in the area said they dread the town these days in fear of the unknown because it appeared that the attackers are lurking waiting for their next victim.
A respondent, who declined his name, said he had relocated from the town to the state capital of Makurdi because of fear.
“I’m no longer doing business there. I have moved to Makurdi because I can’t continue to live in perpetual fear,” he said.
Last Monday, gunmen killed a former chairman of the Zaki-Biam yam market, Tavershima Achinge, at his residence in Zaki-Biam. It was gathered the gunmen had trailed him to his house at about 8:00pm.
The deceased in an interview penultimate week, informed that he resigned his position as the Chairman of Association of Yam Shade Owners and Yam Sellers in Zaki Biam, after the 2017 attack on the market which claimed several lives.
The late Achinge during the interview had cited security reasons for his resignation and further declined any comment on the incident for fear that he may become subject of attack.
Another person, one Tavershima Dega, also referred to as Degata, was shot dead at 8:00pm on Thursday when he went to a pharmacy to purchase drug for his ill wife.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the state command, DSP Catherine Anene, said she could not immediately confirm the killing of Dega because she was yet to receive any briefing on the matter.
But locals said the body of the deceased was picked up by security men and deposited in a hospital morgue.
As the frustration in the area continues following the killings, even the indigenes of the area residing in Makurdi confessed that they are now afraid to go home.
One of them, a senior official in the state civil service, said he had received a call to travel home yesterday for security meetings over the recent killings but said: “I’m afraid for my life. What is going on in Zaki-Biam is terrible!”