- Youths protest at N’Assembly, threaten reprisals over herdsmen attacks
George Okoh in Makurdi and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
Residents of Mbayongo, Nganbeya district of Katsina/Ala Local Government Area of Benue State on Thursday woke up to hear the heinous killing of five young men in the town.
An eyewitness, who claimed to have lost a former schoolmate in the attack (name withheld), said the unknown armed men stormed the individual homes of their victims and hacked them to death in the presence of their families.
He said though the reason for the coordinated killings was yet to be known, the assailants besieged the homes of their targets with clubs and machetes with which they murdered their victims.
“Unlike before, the attackers did not use guns maybe to avoid attracting the attention of vigilante or security agencies, they killed the affected persons with clubs and machetes in their various homes after which they fled,” he said.
When contacted, the Sole Administrator of Katsina/Ala Local Government Area, Mrs. Vera Akua, who confirmed the killings, said she had informed the authorities of the development.
She said: “The matter has been reported to security agencies and we are relying on them to arrest the masterminds. We are also urging the people to avail the police necessary information that would aid their investigation because the development is quite disturbing.”
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, who also confirmed the attack, said the command had commenced investigations into the matter.
Katsina-Ala Local Government Area had witnessed relative peace following series of killings in the past
Meanwhile, a large group of protesters from Benue State on Thursday besieged the National Assembly to protest the recent killings in Buruku Local Government Area of the state by suspected herdsmen.
The protesters accused the federal government of insensitivity and complacency.
The youths under the auspices of the Vanguard Against Tiv Massacre (VATM), threatened reprisals, if the herdsmen do not leave Benue State, with their cattle, particularly as another farming season is about to start.
The protesters, who barricaded two of the entrances to the National Assembly, demanded to speak with either the SenatePresident Bukola Saraki, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
They bore placards with inscription saying: “We voted you to protect us, not to watch us killed-take action”, “It’s only in Nigeria that cows are more important than humans,” and other messages.
The protesters also shunned attempts by two members of the House, Hon. Diri Douye (Bayelsa) and Hon. Mojeed Alabi (Osun) to address them.
After much entreaties, they however listened to Senator Sekibo George Thompson (Rivers East) who was accompanied by Senator Jeremiah Useni (Plateau South East) and Senator Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North).
Thompson told the protesters that at least three motions on the attacks, destruction of property and killings by herdsmen in Benue and in other parts of the country have been sponsored in the eighth Senate.
“The Senate is standing by you, we shall do everything within the limits of the law to ensure these herdsmen are taken to particular areas where they can feed their cattle,” he said.
The senator also recalled that the last Senate deployed a team to Benue State, for first hand assessment of the extent of destruction of properties, farmlands, and killings by the suspected herdsmen.
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