Benue: How return of ‘strange herders’ sparked fresh crisis
The killing of at least six people in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State five days ago that resulted into a fresh crisis between Fulani herdsmen and native farmers was allegedly caused by ‘strange’ herdsmen.
Daily Trust reports that the crisis which started at the weekend had forced many villagers out of their homes with some of them now taking refuge at primary schools in neighbouring towns.
Locals said the renewed hostility claimed the lives of at least six people in Tombo-Mbalagh community of Buruku and Ugba vicinity of Logo local government areas respectively, a development which led to the blocking of the Gboko-Mkovor road for several hours on Monday by youths who laid dead bodies killed by herders on the highway.
Speaking when Governor Samuel Ortom visited the area on Monday, an Mbalagh Community leader, Andiir Akorr, said six persons were killed in the attack while several others were still missing.
He said trouble started when the villagers discovered strange herders trooped into the community to occupy their land without recourse to due process as agreed in several security peace meetings among stakeholders of the two embattled tribes.
Akorr said the herders came with hundreds of cows which they questioned, averring that the people did not confront them but only asked them to leave in peace and then what followed was the killing of his kinsmen.
Earlier, representative of the herdsmen in the area, Ardo Buruku, Amadu Auta, said the Tiv people killed three of their cows after an initial attack which was reported to the police.
On his part, the State Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, who accompanied the governor on the trip, confirmed that six persons were killed in the Buruku attack, adding that the crisis erupted following a face-off between the herdsmen and the locals.
Makama said the herdsmen had come into the area at first instance, grazed and left and returned a second time during which the fresh trouble ensued.
Also speaking, the State Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garus Gololo, attributed the crisis to the coming of strange herders from Taraba State to occupy the area in dispute without permission from appropriate quarters.
Saddened by the development, Governor Ortom undertook an assessment tour of areas overran by the herdsmen, saying he would not want a repeat of what happened in Southern Kaduna in his state, and appealed to the federal government to step in to bring to an end the incessant farmer/herders clashes.