By Masara Kim, Jos, and Adakole Daniel, Makurdi
In the heart of Nigeria’s Benue state, terrorists have laid siege to hamlets sheltering farm families but now target internally displaced persons (IDPs) starving in camps, TruthNigeria has learned. Benue, often referred to as Nigeria’s ‘breadbasket,’ shares borders with five other states and serves as the country’s gateway to the Republic of Cameroon on its southeast flank.
The armed attacks are so widespread the humanitarian crisis overshadows the war zone of the Islamic State-controlled state of Borno, the United Nations has said. IDPs struggling to survive amid government neglect have continued to face brutal attacks by terrorists aiming to take over the state, according to lawmakers speaking to TruthNigeria.
More than 153 people, chiefly IDPs have been killed by “Islamic herdsmen,” since May 4th, says the Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace (HFDP), a Catholic mission in Makurdi, the state capital.
Approximately 520 residents were killed in the worst raids this year between January and June, reports Intersociety, an international monitoring group based in Onitsha, Anambra state in southeastern Nigeria.
The militant herding gangs chiefly identify as members of the Fulani ethnicity. The Fulani, known as the world’s largest nomadic group, has approximately 20 million members. The Fulani have a historical connection to early Islamic adoption and participation in holy wars, known as jihads, from the 16th Century onward, according to World Watch Monitor..
By championing Islam, the Fulani have evolved into the dominant social and economic force in Western Africa, says the international nonprofit which monitors and documents Christian persecution.
In Nigeria, the Fulani, estimated to be at 10 million strong, have been linked to six times the number of deaths caused by Boko Haram, as reported by the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, an international nonprofit based in the United Kingdom.
HFDP in a report shared with TruthNigeria noted Fulani militants raped at least two women and abducted several residents during some of the attacks from May 4th.
“They slashed my pregnant sister’s belly” – survivor
The latest attacks from October 17 to 18, claimed at least 15 lives in the outskirts of Makurdi, according to HFDP’s report.
HFDP reports terrorists targeted an IDP camp near the Benue-Nasarawa border on October 18, killing three people. The report, signed by the Most Revd. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, the Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, states the late evening attack in Uikpam, located in the north of Guma county followed the brutal murder of nine IDPs in two communities 80 miles apart in the nearby Logo and Gwer West counties the previous night.
HFDP’s report revealed that terrorists killed four IDPs while they were collecting yam tubers and corn from their farms near their camp in the village of Mbalam in Gwer West on the afternoon of October 17. Later the same day, another group of terrorists invaded two communities housing 15,000 IDPs in the Logo county – Ayilamo and Mahanga, killing five people.
The attacks were the latest of at least ten incidents this month claiming more than 25 previously displaced residents, TruthNigeria has gathered.
Ms. Blessing Ortseega, a survivor of one of the attacks, shared her harrowing experience with TruthNigeria, recounting how a group of terrorists brutally murdered her mother and pregnant sister before her eyes on October 2 while they were working in their farm.
“We were weeding our yam farm around 12:30 pm three weeks ago and all of a sudden, many Fulani people with guns and machetes surrounded us,” said Ortseega in a telephone interview.
“We all started to run, but my mother and sister – who was seven months pregnant – could not go far,” Ortseega recollected.
“They cut my mother several times with the machete before shooting her,” Ortseega said. “They cut my sister’s belly and removed her baby. They killed the baby and left my sister her dead. She died two days later at the hospital. All the while I was running and screaming but no one could come to our aid,” she said.
Another displaced survivor of an attack the previous day in nearby Gwer West county, Mr. Iorgbuusu Bem, told TruthNigeria he was attacked along with three of his friends while returning from a nearby town where they went to find food.
“They killed my friend and shot me on the arm,” said Bem in a telephone interview.
“We were returning from Naka, riding on the same bike,” Bem said. “Just as we approached one hill, a little after a village called Tse Awunah, we saw a man dressed in black jump out in front of us with a gun. He started shooting at us and hit all of us causing us to crash few meters away,” he said.
“Soldiers take bribes to compromise”
The scene of the attack was less than 600 meters to a prominent military checkpoint in Agagbe, a large town in the heart of Gwer West hosting more than 15, 000 IDPs, according to camp officials. But soldiers manning the checkpoint failed to respond till the attackers escaped, said a youth leader in Tse Awunah, Mr. Kwawa Ernest who attempted to mobilize citizen guards from a sickbed.
It followed a series of attacks ignored by soldiers causing the mayor of the area, Nyibiam Nicholas, to raise questions of military complicity with terrorists.
“They are collecting money from the Fulani to compromise during attacks,” said Nicholas to TruthNigeria. “Our people pay them extra allowances to protect them,” said Christopher in a telephone interview. “But when the Fulani give them more money, they turn a blind eye during attacks and sometimes you see them protecting the Fulani instead,” he said.
The spokesman for the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, did not respond to text messages sent by TruthNigeria.
Motivation for attacks
The motivation for the attacks by “Islamist herdsmen” has “continued to be a deliberate attempt to attack the food sources of the populations so that those not killed by bullets and machetes could be starved to death,” says HFDP.
“Thousands of people have fled their homes and farms in recent times,” according to Rep. Ojemota Ojotu in an interview with TruthNigeria. “There are several communities especially around the Benue boundary with Kogi State that are completely empty due to growing threats by herdsmen,” said Ojotu, who represents a district in Benue at the House of Representatives.
“The herdsmen have gone back and destroyed their houses and farms,” Ojotu said in a telephone interview.
“These people are helpless and hopeless, and the attacks are not stopping,” he said, expressing fears of an escalation in the lead-up to Christmas.
Masara Kim is the senior editor of TruthNigeria.com. Adakole Daniel is a conflict researcher in Makurdi, Benue.
