“If I have my way, no one should be eating cow meat again. If this happens, I hope it will stop the killing in Agatu.” These were the words of an eight-year-old boy, Aliyu Audu, in Ojantele, one of the three camps designated for displaced persons in the wake of the crisis that rocked Agatu a few weeks ago.
For most farmers, traders and other residents of Benue and Taraba states, “Fulani herdsmen” is synonymous with bloodshed and wanton destruction. Fulani terrorists parading as herdsmen have continued to kill, maim and cause destructions with impunity.
The atrocities have received little attention from the authorities probably because of the activities of Boko Haram which have dominated the media space.
There is an invading force lodged somewhere to carry out these acts when called upon"@countfreemont: #AgatuGenocide pic.twitter.com/JElfH3VB4N"
— Sunny Iroro okoro (@realSunnysky) March 12, 2016
For some time now, Audu has not been able to go to school because of constant attacks on the communities in the affected local government area of Benue State. He was panting when Saturday Tribune beckoned to him for a brief interview.
The boy had been kicking a ball around with his mates on an uneven ground. He paused to say something in Agatu dialect, which was promptly interpreted by a guide as “oga, please, I am enjoying football.”
Perhaps oblivious of the happenings in their environment, the young boys continued to play football with great enthusiasm.
What happened in Agatu is a far cry from what was earlier reported. The place is totally deserted! #AgatuGenocide pic.twitter.com/fhN5fNLtVM
— Ohimai Amaize (@MrFixNigeria) March 12, 2016
After much persuasion and the promise of a token, Aliyu with his friends, covered in sweats and taking short fast shallow breaths all at the same time, rushed to respond to our correspondent’s questions. S
uddenly, one of them, Joe, who later claimed to be nine years old, begged the others to allow him to be the spokesman. “The last time we went to school was… hem… hem… November last year, because our parents said that Fulani herdsmen might invade our schools and kill us all. I was at home one day when my father rushed to where we were playing football and asked me to run. As we ran, I fell and each time I did, my father helped me back up and encouraged me run very fast. All I was hearing was the shout of ‘Fulani! Fulani! Fulani!’”
We often ran into decomposing bodies on the streets. Murdered in their own lands #AgatuGenocide pic.twitter.com/teEg7104IH
— 20.10.2020 (@I_Am_Ilemona) March 12, 2016
As he spoke, his mates longed to speak, too, intermittently interrupting the conversation. Joe then beckoned to Aliyu to speak about their stay in the camp. Aliyu shouted: “We are enjoying this place. We play football and we run around but we do not have enough food to eat. Unlike when I was in my village, here, we share whatever is given to us by people who come to give us things.”
The boys may be oblivious of their situation, occasioned by Fulani herdsmen’s invasion of their communities, but the elderly are groaning and wishing for this lot to pass quickly.
FLASH | Aerial view of a village affected in the #AgatuGenocide pic.twitter.com/NRMVX8l6pB
— SIGNAL News Global (@thesignalng) March 12, 2016
One Mr Sunday, who wore a gloomy face as Saturday Tribune approached him, said, “What do you want me to say? The look of this environment should tell you what we are passing through. Imagine yourself with a family of eight managing life and praying for better times only for beasts in human skins to suddenly invade your community and dislodge you and your wife and kids from where you have lived for decades. What manner of a country is ours, being turned into a refugee in your own land?!
What happened in Agatu is nothing short of genocide. And our govt is doing nothing about it #AgatuGenocide pic.twitter.com/Aw0d2p6F32
— 20.10.2020 (@I_Am_Ilemona) March 12, 2016
“Indeed, life in the camps is not different from prison. You don’t have privacy, tens of people crammed in a place. In most cases, you cannot sleep because of the noise. It is more pathetic for some of us with one disease or another. At a point, the food items that were brought by some public-spirited individuals, some horrible boys came in the night and stole everything. There are no medical facilities. There are mosquitoes here and there. Children are falling sick every day.
“As I am talking to you, our communities have been taken over by herdsmen. At times I wonder if Nigeria is not a lawless nation, or how can this lawlessness be allowed to go on? Perhaps it will get to a stage where everyone will be armed to defend themselves if the government can no longer provide security for us.”
Whoever was responsible for the Agatu carnage must be fished out and punished. – SDM pic.twitter.com/qXKGJFPLJ5
— Senator David Mark (@SenDavidABMark) March 11, 2016
According to Sunday, the Fulani herdsmen have been attacking the Agatu people since 2013 virtually on a monthly basis. He noted that efforts to forge a harmonious relationship with the Fulani people had been futile – “If it is this community today, it is another tomorrow.”
Lady Veronica could not fathom the rationale behind the constant invasion of her community by the Fulani herdsmen. According to her, “for many years now, no one has been able to sleep with their two eyes closed because of the constant attacks on our communities. They used to come on Sundays but the recent attacks occurred during the week. They came in droves and unleashed terror on us.”
Lady Veronica appealed to the Federal Government to stop the attacks on the Agatu people, calling for adequate security in the area, particularly the riverine areas where, she said, the invaders always use as launch pads.
Nothing whatsoever justifies this brazen act of destruction meted out on the people of Agatu. – SDM pic.twitter.com/P8I5R4A9IG
— Senator David Mark (@SenDavidABMark) March 11, 2016
Sunday called on the Federal Government to deploy naval men to constantly patrol the riverine areas and establish military posts so as to keep the invaders away from the communities.
The chairman of the caretaker committee of Agatu Local Government Area, Mr Joseph Ngbede, appealed to the federal and Benue state governments to provide shelter for his people whose villages were destroyed by the invading Fulani herdsmen. Ngbede, in a telephone interview, disclosed that since the deployment of soldiers and mobile policemen to the affected communities, the internally displaced Agatu people, who are currently taking refuge in camps, have been willing to go back home but they have nothing to return to.
I am shocked beyond words at the extent of destruction I have seen here in Agatu today. – SDM pic.twitter.com/Xytp1oSDg5
— Senator David Mark (@SenDavidABMark) March 11, 2016
He lamented that the presence of thousands of cows owned by the Fulani herders in the communities remains a threat to his people.
“The situation now is that there are soldiers deployed to provide security in all the settlements but my people are afraid to return because there are no shelters to lay their heads under. Again, the cows are still grazing in most of the villages and they constitute threat to my people who are longing to return to normal life.”
