TIMELINE OF FULANI HERDSMEN ATTACKS
ON BENUE STATE FROM 2013 – 2018
This narrative is a summary of attacks by Fulani herdsmen on Benue communities. These attacks have persisted for several years, long before the present administration. Unfortunately and sadly, both federal and state government have not applied the required force of law and security to end the attacks. The present Buhari-led administration has worrisomely remained indifferent in the face of the killing of defenseless people of Benue. The president's indifference, silence and inaction has stimulated reactions in several quarters. To many analysts, the president has been silent because the perpetrators (Fulani herdsmen) are his kinsmen, and he is a grand patron of the cattle breeders association of Nigeria, and wielding in appropriately will amount to attack on his people. Whether this assertion is true or false, it validates logical reasoning. The president has no choice because he was voted into office to protect all Nigerians, not only his kinsmen.
Throughout the years the attacks have occurred (up to more than two years of during the present administration), it is only now, in the January 2018 brutal attacks that killed several people, wounded and destroyed several properties, as well as displacing communities that the president broke his silence by issuing a statement condemning the killings. The Minister of Interior also visited the state on Thursday, January 4, 2018 to assess the impact of the attacks. It is also, only now, we hear and read in the media, the arrest of 6 Fulani herdsmen in connection with the attacks. Previously, negligible arrests were rumoured but to this day, no one has been reported convicted.
Frustrated, Benue people, led by the Governor and the House of Assembly enacted Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition Law as a legal framework to establish peaceful co-existence between herders and farmers. The Law, which seeks to protect both farmers and herders (against encroachment on farmlands to destroy crops and cattle rustling with clearly defined punishment for all offences thereto) has been vehemently opposed by the Fulani herdsmen. Properties of the opposition to the Law include: issuance of press statements, challenging the Law in court and issuance of threats. Not one of the leaders of the Fulani herdsmen have been arrested for their inciting statements widely available in the public space.
The January 2018 attacks could have been averted, as for several weeks, there trended on social media, updates alerting of plans by the Fulani herdsmen to attack some Benue communities. The social media updates were calling on security agencies to stay alert to avert actualization of the attacks. These calls were not heeded until they came to fruition on the first day of 2018. The situation is getting to a point where Benue people may have to sheat due processes and defend themselves, if security agencies and government continue to act indifferent. Benue people are peace-loving and do not want to engage in any illicit form of defense but rather open to propagating the incidences of the brutal killings of Benue people by Fulani herdsmen for the world to know, and call for concerted engagements that will put an end to the unprovoked killings, now, and in the future. (Dan Kwen)
For hindsight, the following attacks on Benue communities have been carried out by Fulani herdsmen between 2013 and 2018:
1. February 2013, Fulani attacked Agatu,
burning Inoli, Ologba, Olegeje, Olegogboche, Olegede, Adana, Inminy and Abugbe
communities. Many lives were lost.
2.
April 23 2013, 10 farmers killed in an
attack on Mbasenge community in Guma LGA by suspected herdsmen.
3.
May 7, 2013, 47 mourners gunned down in
Agatu while burying two policemen killed the previous Tuesday in Nassarawa.
4.
May 14, 2013, Over 200 herdsmen surround
Ekwo-Okpanchenyi, Agatu LGA killing 40 locals.
5.
July 5, 2013, 20 people were killed in a
“conflict” between Tiv farmers and herdsmen at Nzorov, Guma LGA, Benue state.
6.
July 31 2013, herdsmen invaded 2 villages
in Agatu LGA killing 8 villagers allegedly in retaliation for the killing of
112 cows
7.
November 7, 2013, herdsmen strike at
Ikpele and Okpopolo communities killing 7 and displacing over 6000
inhabitants.
8. November 9, 2013, 36 locals killed by herdsmen and 7
villages overrun in an attack by herdsmen on locals in Agatu LGA.
9. November 20, 2013, Attack on communities in
Guma LGA, killing 22 locals and destroying properties worth millions of Naira.
10. January 20, 2014, Armed herdsmen attacked Agatu LGA,
killing 5 soldiers and 7 civilians.
11.
January 20, 2014, Attack on Adeke village. 3
dead.
12.
February 20 - 21, 2014, Herdsmen attack Gwer-West
LGA. 35 persons killed. 80,000 displaced. 6 Council Wards Sacked.
13. February 24, 2014, Attack on a Tiv community
along Naka road, Makurdi, killing 8 people.
14. March 6, 2014, 30 killed in Kwande,
Katsina-Ala and Logo LGAs by attackers dressed in military uniforms. 6 villages
sacked.
15. March 12, 2014, Raid on Ukpam village of
Mbabaai in Guma LGA. 28 persons killed. Yam barns and farms burnt.
16. March 10, 2014, Former Governor Suswam’s
convoy attacked by herdsmen at Umenger. He and convoy manage an escape.
17. March 12, 2014, Herdsmen attack Suswam’s
village in Logo LGA. 22 slaughtered. Entire village sacked.
18. March 23, 2014, 25 killed and over 50
injured by herdsmen said to be bearing sophisticated weapons in Gbajimba, Guma
LGA.
19.
March 25, 2014, Police recover 7 corpses
following an attack on Agena village by Herdsmen.
20.
March 29, 2014, Herdsmen attack 4
villages in Agatu LGA. 19 people killed, 15 others abducted.
21.
March 29, 2014, Suspected use of
chemical weapons on Shengev community in Gwer West LGA leaving 15 people dead.
22.
March 30, 2014, 19 locals killed and 15
abducted in Agatu LGA.
23.
April 10, 2014, Over 100 herdsmen
attacked 4 villages in Ukemberaga/Tswarev ward of Logo LG, 6 killed, properties
lost.
24.
April 15, 2014, Attack on Obagaji,
Headquarters of Agatu LGA, 12 youths killed.
25.
September 10, 2014, Herdsmen attacked
five villages in Ogbadibo LGA leaving scores dead.
26.
January 27, 2015, 17 persons killed in
attacks on Abugbe, Okoklo, Ogwule & Ocholoyan in Agatu LGA by herdsmen.
27.
January 30, 2015, Over 100 attackers
stormed 5 villages in Logo LGA, killing 9 persons in the attack.
28.
March 15, 2015, Egba village in Agatu
LGA sacked by herdsmen,over 90 locals, including women and children killed.
29.
April 27, 2015, 28 persons killed by
herdsmen in attack on 3 villages at Mbadwem, Guma LGA; houses and farmlands
razed.
30.
May 11, 2015, Ikyoawen community in
Turan Kwande LGA invaded by herdsmen. 5 persons killed & 8 others wounded.
31.
May 24, 2015, 100 killed in an attack by
herdsmen in villages &refugee camps at Ukura, Gafa, Per and Tse-Gusa, Logo
LGA.
32.
July 7, 2015, 1 local killed and several
others injured following an attack on mourners in Imande Bebeshi in Kwande LGA.
33.
November 5, 2015, 12 persons killed, 25
others injured in Buruku LGA following an attack by suspected herdsmen.
34.
Feb 8, 2016, 10 killed and over 300
displaced in clash between herdsmen and farmers at Tor-Anyiin and Tor-Ataan in
Buruku LGA.
35.
Feb 21-24, 2016, Over 500 locals killed
and 7000 displaced in an attack on Agatu LGA by Fulani herdsmen. Over 7
villages razed.
36.
March 9, 2016, 8 residents killed by
herdsmen in attacks on Ngorukgan, Tse Chia, Deghkia and Nhumbe in Logo LGA.
37.
March 11, 2016, Attack on Convoy of
Senator David Mark by suspected herdsmen in Agatu LGA. No casualty recorded.
38.
March 13, 2016, 6 people including an
APC youth leader killed by herdsmen in an attack on Tarkaa LGA.
39.
February 29, 2016, 11 killed in Edugbeho
Agatu LG including a police inspector.
40.
March 10, 2016, Two killed in attack on
Obagaji Agatu.
41.
March 5, 2016, Houses burnt in Agatu.
Security forces prevented killings.
42.
January 24, 2017, 15 people were killed
by rampaging Fulani herdsmen, who attacked farmers in Ipiga village in Ohimini
Local Government Area of Benue State.
43.
March 2, 2017, No fewer than 10 persons
were killed in a renewed hostility between herdsmen and farmers in Mbahimin
community, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.
44.
March 11, 2017, Seven people were killed
when herdsmen attacked a Tiv community, Mkgovur village in Buruku local
government area of Benue State.
45.
May 8, 2017, Three persons were
confirmed killed by herdsmen in Tse-Akaa village, Ugondo Mbamar District of
Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.
46.
May 13, 2017, Less than one week after
many people were killed by herdsmen in three communities of Logo Local
Government Area of Benue State, armed herders struck again on May 13 killing
eight more people.
47.
December 31, 2017 and January 2, 2018,
50 persons including seven members of the Benue State Livestock Guards have
been killed in fresh attacks on Benue communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen
after they invaded Gaambe-Tiev, Ayilamo and Turan all in Logo LGA as well as
Umenger, Tse-Akor and Tomatar near Tse-Abi in Nongov District of Guma LGA.
References:
Obtained
from The-Benue-We-Deserve platform
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