Group flays FG, Plateau over alleged security lapse

THE National President of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), Sunday Abdu, has carpeted both the Plateau and federal governments for failing to secure lives in Bassa council area of Plateau State following the constant attacks by herdsmen. He therefore passed a vote of no confidence in the Nigerian military.

Abdu, a former member of the House of Assembly for Bassa constituency, made his position known yesterday while addressing reporters in Jos.

According to him, he was greatly disappointed by the pronouncements of the state and federal govern- ments on the crisis.

He noted that it was only on Tuesday that they were able to sleep without any form of molestation from a menace that had become a daily occurrence since last August.

His words: “Well, today we are looking up to God. We are trusting Him. We are relying on Him. We are depending on Him. We are praying that He takes over this battle because it is beyond us. Right now in our land, we are working towards recuperating or if possible, to overcome the demagogue. How we are going to do that? It is only God that will help us. Well, we are sleeping with one eye closed and that is the situation now in Bassa.”

Abdu disclosed that the killings and destruction in Irigwe land had been monumental.

He added: “The truth is that in every one human life that is killed, there is no amount of money or amount of number in terms of monetary that you can quantify it with. But the truth is that we have lost over a hundred lives. We lost thousands of houses and we also lost crops for harvesting in the farms.

“The herdsmen will go and cut them down with cutlasses as well as allow the cows to graze in the night.

“Till today, nothing is being said about the situation. But the people who survived this mayhem are hospitalised, those who have been discharged from the hospital are now hungry. Apart from burning their houses, the barns where they put their food are burnt and. They burnt the foods inside and destroyed the barns. But hunger is what is really killing the people right now.”

He noted that the Irigwe community entirely depends on dry season farming but added that the arrangement had been altered by the killer herdsmen.

“We normally prepare for the rainy season. But right now, they have killed our morale.”