By Austen Akhagbeme

Just as they have experienced previously in uncountable times, Benue State, fondly referred to as “The Food Basket of the Nation” has again been thrown into rivers of tears and mourning, following the gruesome massacre of about 200 people on Friday night to the wee hours of Saturday morning in Yelewata. And this was just after the death of 20 farmers, allegedly killed by Fulani herdsmen in the Gwer West and in Tyoshin communities in Gwer East LGA of the state, a month ago.

The Story of a Young Man named Mathew Iormba, a Pharmacist and native of Yelewata, summarizes the tragedy of a people, the death of a dream and the failure of the state to guarantee the safety of life and property, even in the hitherto peaceful rural communities in our nation.

Mr Iormba has just completed his compulsory housemanship program in Kano and decided to visit with his family back home to tell them about the good news of his graduation. According to the account, he had always wanted to study Medicine in school but couldn’t after two futile attempts. Then he opted to study Pharmacy and came out with flying colours.

The excitement and the big dream of self-actualization was to be cut short by the heartless killers when he arrived at Yelewata on Thursday night. His skull and charred remains were among those of the many victims of that ill-fated Saturday morning killings after the eerie dust had settled.

The helpless victims who were said to have gotten a wind of the looming danger opted to sleep in camps at night, in places like Schools, Churches and Markets. Yet, the marauders went to these places to carry out their havoc; probably the reason for the high number of deaths, as it were.

Just like every other thing in Nigeria, this mindless killing which has sent shockwaves beyond our shores, is being politicized in an attempt to hide the level of carnage and mayhem from the public and thereby mitigate the blame on the government’s inefficiency or culpability. This is disconcerting.

While the survivors and the people are declaring 200 or more deaths, Governor Alia of Benue State is declaring 59, all in an attempt to douse the fire and fury of youths who took to the streets of Makurdi calling for a reprieve on one hand, and the looming fear of a possible declaration of a state of emergency in Benue State on the other.

There’s no denying the fact that playing politics with the real issues has contributed immensely to the degenerate state of peace and security within the Benue trough over the years. A time was when the former Governor Ortom was physically pursued by these marauders during one of his tours of the affected communities. It was dismissed as one of those
political gimmicks to paint the federal government with a tarred brush.

Now that Benue State is controlled by the same political Party at the centre, Governor Alia is “duty-bound” to support the centre by declaring that the government has restored peace to 17 LGAs when almost all the LGAs were infiltrated and endangered by killers.

The IGP’s decisive step to relocate operations and that of the Federal special forces and tactical teams deployed to the embattled state following President Tinubu’s charge is a step in the right direction.

The pogrom going on in Benue State must be seen as what it truly is, a pogrom! It must not be embellished with meliorative acronyms. It must be stopped permanently. Because it is a potential leeway to national anarchy if left unattended.

Picture inset: Governor Hyacinth Alia