N.G. O BLAST IGP OVER COMMENT ON AGATU MASACCARE

The Executive Director of Global peace and life rescue initiative (GOPRI), Mr Melvin Ejeh  has described as reckless,  insensitive and unprofessional a statement credited  to the Inspector General of police Mr Solomon Arase,  in Minna Niger state over the Agatu  massacre,  and called on the him to stop  playing  politics with human lives. He stated this in ugbokpo Apa Local government area of Benue State on Saturday,    12 /3 /2016  while reacting to a statement in some national and local media which quoted Mr Arase as saying the Agatu massacre was exaggerated because the people killed in the attack were not taken to any police station nor did he  see  any corpse,   In his words,  Mr Ejeh condermn the statement   in the strongest terms and wonder why an IGP who have built  a very strong and professional name will just rub his name on the mud just for favour from some quarter? This act is unprofessional,  reckless and insensitive and must be condemned  by all well  meaning Nigeria'ns.  we are very disappointed for someone who did not visit  the scene of the attack till date to  arrived at such a grave conclusion,   How can our most respected Arase descend this low?  Was he expecting that those who were running for  their dear lives to carry each person killed to the police station  before burying then,  where and how is that possible? Or  was Mr Arase expecting to see a mass grave or decomposed  Agatu corpse in Makurdi where he visited?. Or the fact that it took four whole days of the attack  before security were deployed not enough for the terrorists to do whatever they want with the people they killed?, The statement is most unfortunate,  unprofessional,  insensitive especially now that  investigation on the matter  is still  on going in several local and international agencies.   As a matter of fact we in the civil society group   who visited the scene and interacted with some direct victims  strongly feel that the death toll in Agatu massacre is  far beyond the 300  being reported by media,  but since the IGP have a contrary opinion ,  we urge him to as a matter of urgency give us the exact death figure,  and also give us the real reason why he refused to arrest the terrorists who confessed before him in makurdi at a stake holders meeting that they killed Agatu people because there 10,000 cattle where killed in Agatu. While we the await the response from the IGP on the exact death figure

 we humbly urge him to remain professional.

N.G. O MAY DRAG GOV. SAMUEL ORTOM OF BENUE STATE AND F. G TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT OF JUSTICE IN HAGUE OVER AGATU GENOCIDE

A Non governmental organisation know as Global peace and life rescue initiative (GOPRI) has vowed to take the Executive Governor of Benue State  Dr Samuel ortom and the Federal government of Nigeria to the international criminal court in Hague over the their role in the Agatu massacre. Executive Director of the organisation Mr Melvin Ejeh stated  this in Obagaji Agatu local government yesterday after returning from some of the affected villages,  he decried the high level of destruction of lives and properties in the villages and call for an urgent actions against the terrorists and their sponsors. He wonder why  a sitting governor who swore to  protect the people will stood so low by playing partisan politics with human lives? What explanation can governor ortom give  for not condemning the terrorists attacks or brief the presidency  until after four days of consistent attacks on the innocent villagers?, Was it because he was already aware and  party to the attacks? or was it because he wanted the terrorists to finish the entire Agatu local government? This is unacceptable and highly  irresponsible and should be seen as such. We cannot fold our hands and watch innocent people being killed using States  collaboration in the name of hatred for the idoma race.  We will act accordingly to forestall further occurrence. In his direct words Mr Ejeh while briefing news men in Obagaji condemned the wanton destruction of lives and properties, and the  deliberate inaction of both Federal and Benue State government,  as you can see Iam just coming out from some of the villages destroyed by this terrorists I can't even access most  of the  villages because they are still being occupy by the terrorists under the helpless eyes of the security agencies, all the the villages we managed to access is completely sacked,  there's no trace of human being living  there for now, and as I speak to you now Akwu village is their logistics base and no body can ordinarily go beyond Akwu at this moment and yet  government is claiming to have liberated the entire villages just to score political points.  What kind of country are we?, This act of playing politics with human lives must stop. The information's gathered from  some of  scenes and eye witnesses we spoke to suggest that if the governor  had acted promptly and responsibly to the situation as the chief security officer of the state this catastrophic destruction would have been avoided or largely minimise ,  instead he was busy playing politics.  However Iam please to inform you  ladies and gentlemen of the press that  we have collected more than sufficient evidence,  in pictures, voice recording of meetings, videos, and D.V.R which clearly suggests  a grand conspiracy between the Fulani terrorists and some major state actors against the the Agatu people, and will brief our team of lawyers  as soon as we  get to our base, and will  hire more senior advocates of Nigeria to file this case  of conspired genocide in  icc  Hague without delay.

Gen Dambazau Stop the Fulani attacks On Nigerians Now

By Sylva Nze Ifedigbo

I will assume sir, that you’ve been briefed by your people about the very sad occurrence last week in Agatu LGA of Benue State. I am assuming because there was no sign that you were aware well over forty-eight hours after the community was attacked and sacked by rampaging Fulani herdsmen.  Like your principal who was at the time seeking spiritual interventions for the problems of Nigeria in Mecca and inundating us with pictures every step of the way, there was no official statement of any kind from your office which is most unfortunate.

As a well-read individual and a retired army general, one will expect that you appreciate the importance of prompt communication in crisis situations. It is therefore very baffling that over 200 Nigerian lives (some say 300, it depends on who you are reading) can be lost within the country and your office does not deem it fit to make a statement, even if just to acknowledge said event and reassure the rest of the citizenry on what steps are being taken to stem the killings and rehabilitate the displaced.

That said, one must note that the killings in Agatu came barely a week after similar events happened a little further South in Abi community of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State. These are just two of the most recent occurrences of these dastardly assaults on Nigerian citizens which have indeed become a reoccurring event in parts of the middle belt and southern Nigeria extending to the South West and Eastern heartlands. To put it more succinctly, we are witnessing a silent genocide and government seem to be pretending that it is not happening. The question is, are we going to allow this to continue? Are we throwing our hands up in surrender? Are we saying we cannot solve the problem of Fulani herdsmen in this day and age? Are we inadvertently giving the impression that the herdsmen are immune to the law?

Providing answers to the above questions is the reason you have a job, sir. Suffices to state here that it is high time we as a people, tackled the Fulani herdsmen issue head-on with the sincerity and sense of duty that it deserves. Our country cannot survive these cycles of barbarity. A group of people no matter the grievance cannot continue to operate outside of the law and take lives whenever it pleases them and without any consequences whatsoever.

There is no mystery around the bone of contention here. No need to setup fact-finding committees as governments is quick to. The report of many committees of times past has never been implemented anyway. So we don’t need new ones. The issue is simply that of grazing cattle and the destruction of farms crops in villages along the path of the nomads. You might wish to note that the strategy of papering the cracks in which government hurriedly convenes a meeting of actors on both sides at the end of which you declare that ‘peace’ has been negotiated and television cameras roll away has not helped anyone. As long as desertification continues, and the Fulani herdsman has to go deeper south to get green pasture for his cattle, these clashes will continue if we do not do something intelligent about it.

Mention has been made for grazing reservoirs, for the definition (and demarcation) of grazing routes, for the domestication of the Fulani herdsmen, for working with them to go from nomadic animal husbandry to a structured farm style husbandry. But mention must now also be made of finding out the source of the sophisticated weapons these herdsmen bear, the need for proper surveillance of communities and the creation of a robust internal security architecture that is not reactionary but able to predict crises and nip it in the bud. This again is the reason why we pay you handsomely.

Failure to deliver on these will among other things mean your tenure as Internal security Czar was a failure and that those that died in Agatu and Abi and many other communities before them, died in vain. Remember, they too are Nigerians and share fully in the commonwealth which guarantees you round the clock security protection. They deserve better. The protection of their lives and properties is sacrosanct. It is enshrined in the constitution as their right and we cannot continue to fail them so.

Honourable minister, we have glossed over his Fulani herdsmen issue for too long and it is becoming as much an embarrassment as it is an indictment on us all Nigerians especially those of us who live in the relative peace of cities and semi-urban areas far from the killing theaters.  The conspiracy of silence has run its course. It is time for use to do something. We look up to you and your team to provide leadership in this area.