Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro has warned that residents of Benue South Senatorial District may be forced to defend themselves if government at every level continues failing in its constitutional duty to protect life and property, after roughly 20 people, including children, were killed in coordinated attacks on the district’s communities within a 72 hour span.
Raising the matter under Orders 41 and 51 of the Senate Standing Orders as a matter of urgent public importance, Moro rejected any characterisation of the violence as farmer herder clashes, insisting the attacks have evolved into an organised campaign to displace indigenous communities and seize their ancestral land. He traced a disturbing sequence of recent assaults: Utukpitu community attacked on a Friday, two people killed in Akpachi, Uboju District of Otukpo local government area on Sunday, and a further attack on Tuesday, July 14, in Ondo community, also in Uboju, claiming two more lives. The latest killings come barely three months after Moro raised a similar motion in the Senate, and he described Benue South as a region under siege, lamenting that innocent Nigerians are now being murdered in their own homes without provocation. People wake up at 5am to the sound of gunshots, and before long, a sizeable number of innocent people have been killed, he said.
Moro revealed that security intelligence had reportedly warned authorities of an impending attack a full week before the latest massacre, disclosing that the paramount ruler of Idoma Kingdom received intelligence that Otukonobi community would be targeted and immediately alerted the Commissioner of Police, who reportedly expressed frustration at being unable to reach the state governor despite repeated attempts. Seven days later, the community was attacked and lives were lost, Moro said.
