After two years of relentless killings by armed herders believed to have infiltrated Benue State from neighbouring states, President Bola Tinubu finally visited the state last Wednesday where he gave a firm directive to the service chiefs to pursue the perpetrators, who have continued to operate like ghosts, with no arrests made to date. Davidson Iriekpen reviews Tinubu’s engagements with key stakeholders during the visit.

Following the local and international outrage that greeted the killing of over 150 people in Benue State last week, President Bola Tinubu finally visited the state Wednesday to pacify the victims and end the unprovoked killings.

The attacks by gunmen suspected to be herders in Benue communities sparked international outrage when news of how the invaders attacked Yelwata community in Yelwata Local Government Area (LGA), leaving many dead and thousands of others displaced went viral. 

The bloodshed was an opportunity for opposition politicians, including Peter Obi of the Labour Party and a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to tackle President Tinubu, asking him and security agencies to address the carnage. 

From the international scene, Pope Leo XIV expressed sorrow, condemning what he described as a terrible massacre and extreme cruelty. Delivering his remarks before the Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican, the pontiff expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence in Nigeria and the suffering of affected communities.

The Pope prayed for “security, justice, and peace” to prevail in the country while offering special intercession for the rural Christian communities in Benue, whom he described as “relentless victims of violence.”

Also, the United Nations reacted to the killing, saying it was closely monitoring the situation.

In a statement issued by Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the international body called on relevant agencies and security operatives to work towards ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

It was largely believed that the outrage forced Tinubu, who had already scheduled a visit to Kaduna State, to reschedule his itinerary and visit Benue.

During his visit, he called out his service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, one after the other with a mandate to go after those behind the dastardly killings in the state.

 “Police, I hope your men are on alert to listen to information. How come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals,” Tinubu said at the Benue Government House in Makurdi, the state capital, during a stakeholders’ meeting.

“Christopher (the Chief of Defence Staff), you have given much. I watch your comments; you can’t be tired of staying in the bush. Oluyede (the Chief of Army Staff) and the Air Marshal, we thank all of you, but we need to keep our ears to the ground; let’s get those criminals; let’s get them out. DG NIA, DG SSS, retool your information channels and let’s have tangible intelligence so that this will not occur again.”

Tinubu, at the meeting, also canvassed for the establishment of a committee comprising past governors of the state, traditional rulers, and other important stakeholders to help in finding lasting solutions to the lingering issues affecting the state.

Many who thought the state governor, Hyacinth Alia, who recently accused politicians and members of the National Assembly of sponsoring violent attacks in the state would courageously use the i auspicious occasion of the president’s visit to spill the beans on what he knows, were disappointed. Instead, he asked the federal government to establish state police. Though with its challenges, the governor argued that state police are critical to stemming the tide of violence in the state.

However, the only stakeholder who spoke to the heart of the issue was the Tor Tiv and Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Council, James Ayatse, who directly told President Tinubu that his security chiefs were misinforming him about the true nature of the crisis plaguing the state. 

He asserted that the conflict is not a farmers-herders’ dispute but a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign in the state by “herder terrorists and bandits” that had been going on for decades.

“We have grave concern about the misinformation and misrepresentation of the security crisis in Benue,” the traditional ruler said. 

“Your Excellency, it is not herders-farmers clashes; it is not communal clashes; it is not reprisal attacks or skirmishes. It is this misinformation that has led to suggestions such as ‘remain tolerant’, ‘negotiate for peace’, or ‘learn to live with your neighbours.’

“What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by herder-terrorists and bandits, which has been going on for decades and is worsening every year.

“Wrong diagnosis will always lead to wrong treatment. So, we are dealing with something far more sinister than we often admit,” he said.

In response, President Tinubu pledged to address the root causes of the crisis and ensure peace returns to the state. He also expressed his disappointment that the police had failed to make any arrests more than 72 hours after the attack.

Just like Plateau State, Benue has been in the news for the wrong reasons for too long. Since the last 10 years, bandits and herdsmen have been raiding villages, killing men, women, and children, while also raping and kidnapping countless others.

However, it remains uncertain if the president’s visit will restore peace to the state given the fact that his previous marching orders to the service chiefs neither led to any arrests of the perpetrators nor brought peace to the state.

After the killing of over 200 persons in the state recently, the Nigerian Army on June 6, released a statement that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, had temporarily relocated to the state.

However, the next day, the COAS was spotted in Abuja with the state government saying that he did not relocate to the state but merely visited.

Concerns that Tinubu’s visit might not resolve the crisis were further fuelled by the president’s directive that Governor Alia should provide land for cattle ranching.

The questions agitating the minds of the people of Benue are: Is the president telling the people to surrender their lands to their killers? Can the Tivs and Idoma people of Benue invade farming communities in Sokoto or Kano states and kill the indigenes and force them to surrender their lands to the invaders for farming?

Observers believe that since no Nigerian or foreigner has claimed responsibility for the killings, it would amount to surrendering to criminals for the people of the state to give up their lands to unknown attackers.

Some residents of the state also believe that Tinubu’s directive will embolden the attackers to continue the attacks on the ground that the governor has not provided the lands as directed by the president.

To end the crisis in Benue, the Pope, the United Nations and the international community should put pressure on President Tinubu and the security chiefs to bring the killers to justice since the president’s directive for land to be made available for ranching suggests that the government has confirmed that the attackers are herdsmen on land grabbing mission.

The time has come to be decisive with the crisis in the state. It is not the time to play politics with the lives of the people.

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