Fear of assassination grips Benue citizens
By Sam Adzegeh/Makurdi.
Prominent politicians in Benue State now live in palpable fear even as uncertainty pervades the society, following recent killings in the state. Last week Thursday, July 16, a prominent member of the society and PDP chieftain, Chief Atoza Hindan was shot and killed in broad daylight in Katsina Ala town as he was inspecting construction work on one of his buildings. According to reports, two men on a motor bike rode up to him and shot him in the head at point blank range in the presence of his police guard, who, though attempted to intervene, was over powered.
It was the latest in a series of assassinations in less than two weeks. Before Hindan’s gruesome murder, at least seventeen other persons had been killed in the area, including an attack on a local market in Ukum near Zaki Biam when unidentified gunmen opened fire on people, killing several innocent persons. Some unidentified persons also attacked and killed a police man and a soldier at a village near Katsina. The service rifles of the two officers were taken away by their assailants. A woman was also killed with her infant child as well as an old man and his wife.
Before his death, Hindan was a very powerful politician and one of the strongest pillars of the PDP as well as a close ally to Gabriel Suswam, the immediate past Governor of the state. His son, Terfa was a Commissioner in the Suswam administration.
Most of these killings, believed to be political, incidentally occurred in the Sankera axis of the Benue North East Senatorial zone, also known as Zone A. The area, comprising Katsina Ala, Logo and Ukum local governments, was one of the political hotbeds in the last general elections. It forms one half of the senatorial zone, the other comprising Kwande, Ushongo and Vandeikya. It is in this zone that the fiercest battle for the Senate in last April’s elections took place, pitching (then) Governor Suswam against Senator Barnabas Gemade, the incumbent Senator who was seeking re-election to his position. Suswam had vowed to snatch the senate seat from Gemade who had equally sworn to return to the Senate.
Against this background was a long lasting and violent face-off between invading Fulani herdsmen and the indigenous farming population which had claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed thousands of homesteads. This protracted crisis had resulted in the proliferation of illegal arms and other weapons which were used in the fighting.
With the heightening of political tensions in the area and the seeming abatement of the herdsmen/farmers clashes, attention centred on the (then) upcoming elections. Desperate politicians found in the armed youth willing recruits for their political adventurism. They bought and supplied arms to those who did not have some. They employed these youth in the killing and intimidation of opponents, paying them heavily and dishing out patronage to them in several forms. At last, the elections were won and lost, but the youth retained their weapons.
No longer finding employment or other forms of patronage from their erstwhile godfathers, some of the more unscrupulous and daring youth resorted to armed robbery and other forms of banditry, including kidnapping. Gory tales of unspeakable atrocities like rape and cattle rustling became common place. When the police officer and his army counterpart were killed, the federal government set up a high powered Joint Task Force, JTF, which it despatched to the area to put an end to the restiveness. It was learnt that the JTF was specifically instructed to arrest “by all means necessary”, a notorious individual who is believed to be the leader of a gang which specializes in cattle rustling.
So far, this magazine learnt that the JTF has succeeded in greatly reducing the incidences of attacks on innocent persons, arrested and detained a large number of youth believed to have been behind the crisis, and recovered more than a thousand herds of cattle believed to have been rustled. It has also recovered the two firearms stolen from the slain service personnel, which it was learnt was discovered in the warehouse of a very prominent politician from the area.
Following this discovery, as well as information being elicited from arrested youth on interrogation, fear has gripped other prominent individuals, especially politicians, many of whom have fled the state as they are believed to have been fingered as being the sponsors and suppliers of arms to the youth.
At a world press conference in Abuja, Tuesday, July 22, Terfa Atoza Hindan, son of the murdered former politician, pointedly accused two prominent individuals in the state, one a serving police officer and the other, a PDP youth leader, of being responsible or his father’s death.
Reacting to the accusation, Austin Ezeani, an ASP and Public Relations Officer of the Benue State Police Command, told this magazine that he was not aware of the development. He however, wondered why Terfa Hindan had not come to the command with his allegations to enable the command investigate the matter but chose to make them at a press conference in Abuja. Ezeani confirmed that, indeed, some prominent politicians from the area have been interrogated in connection with the crisis, also confirming that several persons were also in police custody.
The magazine recalls that, worried by the proliferation of arms, the State Governor Samuel Ortom, last month announced a three month amnesty period for those who willingly relinquish illegal arms in their possession to the government, offering various amounts of money for each category of arms, ranging from N10,000 and N20,000 for locally manufactured firearms to as much as N100,000 for automatic weapons. The amnesty period is supposed to end by August ending after which anyone caught with illegal arms would be prosecuted. The gambit appears to have started paying off. Last month, tens of youth returned firearms in their possession at a public ceremony in Government House Makurdi.
But even this effort has elicited criticism from some quarters as some observers are of the opinion that the measure was not enough to significantly reduce the arms in circulation in the Benue society. However, Tahav Agerzua, Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor on Media, feels that such criticisms are misplaced, explaining that the arms proliferation in the state had been on going over a long period and asked people to be patient with government.