Fulani, Farmers' Clash Claims Many Lives In Benue

SAN FRANCISCO, May 08, (THEWILL) – A deadly clash between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State has left many dead with property worth millions of naira also destroyed.

Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, disclosed this on Wednesday at the State House, Abuja when he came to brief Vice President Namadi Sambo on the incident and other security challenges in his state and neighbouring Nassarawa State.

Explaining that the Fulani herdsmen overran Agatu Local Government, one of the Local Governments the Senate President, Senator David Mark, is representing, Suswam said 10 of the attackers, along with heavy weapons and many rounds of ammunitions, were however arrested by the combined Task Force of the Police the Army and the State Security Service (SSS).

The governor, who also lamented the incident, said proactive measures must be taken to stop the upsurge in the wave of violence decimating lives across the country.

Maintaining that although the Fulani-farmers clash is not peculiar to his state, Suswam said he agreed with Sambo that a national conference should be held to thrash out the matter, which, according to him, affects productivity and eventually the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

“I came to brief the Vice President on the security situation in Benue. You must have heard that there are serious altercation between the Fulani and the local farmers. This time, it happened in Agatu Local Government which is one of the Local Governments that the Senate President represents and they almost overrun the Local Government and there was a lot of killings.

“ A lot of property was destroyed and I felt that I should come to brief the Vice President who is holding forte for the President and I also discussed other sundry issues that relate to the general security situation in the country,” Suswam explained.

On the killing of 20 policemen by cultists in Nassarawa state, the governor urged all tiers of government to be firm in taking decisions that will help tackle the growing insecurity in parts of the country so that the country will not become Somalia and Sudan where anomie is the order of the day.

He said it is not proper for miscreants to attack and kill security operatives. “Where people kill uniform people with impunity is totally unacceptable and when there is a situation like that and the security agencies react and people say they are excessive ,it is not right,” the governor stated.

“I would not support a situation where groups, militias or miscreants will target uniform people. It then means that if the security people now are at threat, it means that we are not protected.”

Suswam noted that Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua had the same situation but got out of it because their governments took bold measures to arrest it.

He however blamed Nigerians for politicising the insecurity and solicited the support of every Nigerian in fighting the menace.

“This is not an issue that should be politicised and put on partisan table as some people are doing. This is an issue that must be addressed collectively. When America was attacked both the Republican and the Democrat joined hands together, knowing that it was a problem of the nation,” Suswam said.