Lawmakers Charge President Tinubu, Gov. Alia With Total Silence
By Mike Odeh James and Ekani Olikita
Residents of Tyoshin, a populous rural town in Benue State, have buried 511 victims of land-grabbing attacks since 2011, and now are begging President Bola Tinubu and Governor Hyacinth Alia to free them from Fulani terrorist occupation. According to the Observatory for Religion Freedom in Africa (ORFA), Fulani Ethnic Militias (FEM) have killed more Christians than Boko Haram in Nigeria.
This call is coming after another round of gruesome murder of their people on Friday and Sunday by Fulani jihadists.
Armed Fulani terrorists on Friday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct 20, 2024 laid siege on Naka-Makurdi road, killing 5 on Friday and 3 locals on Sunday with many sustaining life-threatening injuries and receiving medical treatments in various hospitals.
County Chairman speaks out, blames non-functioning checkpoints
Reacting to the latest round of the attacks and killings in an exclusive interview with TruthNigeria, the new Chairman of Gwer-West County, Hon Victor Torsar Ormin, condemned the attack, urging that necessary actions are being put in place to stop the slaughter of hundreds of citizens that began in 2011.
“The Fulani Jihadists who are killing our people on a daily basis, crossed from neighbouring Nasarawa State, and are occupying most of our communities and have refused to leave, depriving our people, who are predominantly farmers and fishermen, from accessing their farmlands,” Ormin told TruthNigeria.
“The only sin of our, people who are 99 percent Christians [reportedly 90 percent Catholic] is that they have refused to embrace the evil version of the Islamic religion of terror,” Ormin said.
The deployment of some military personnel to parts of Naka-Makurdi road and Agagbe Community hasn’t changed an already bad situation. Most of the attacks took place near military checkpoints but without swift reaction by soldiers. “Our people will be completely wiped away if these killings are allowed to continue for the next 5 years,” according to Ormin.
“We advised the military to establish checkpoints at the Riverine communities of Apochi (Achukpa), Gidan-Pepa and Ogbaji which are the main routes through which Fulani terrorists cross from Nasarawa State through River Benue to kill our people, but all fell on deaf ears,” Ormin said.
Attacks, kidnappings and killings have become almost daily affairs in Tyoshin land (Gwer-West county) and are either not reported or underreported by the mainstream media in Nigeria if not with the coming on board of TruthNigeria in the state, resulting to mistrust and lack of confidence in them by the locals, according to locals speaking to TruthNigeria. On Oct. 17 TruthNigeria reported the gruesome murder of two young Catholic farmers, Tersoo Visigh and James Iornav, an atrocity still unreported by mainstream Nigerian media (MNM). The killing of 3 Tyoshin people on Sunday remains unremarked by MNM.
Darkest Days for Tyoshin: Historian
In a Press Statement on behalf of Tyoshin Community on Friday, Patrick Ukase, a Professor of Political History and Development Studies, Kogi State University in Nigeria and National President, Forum of Tyoshin Academics (FOTA), described the latest bloodbath as one of the darkest days for Tyoshin Community, blaming President Tinubu and Governor Hyacinth Alia for the lingering attacks, kidnappings and killing in Tyoshin (Gwer-West County).
Prof Ukase decries the latest attack carried out by so-called herders who attack on motorcycles with no cattle in sight. “Herders” is a longstanding misnomer disguising the ethnic identity of 40,000 radicalized Muslim terrorists who speak the language of the Fulani tribe, according to TruthNigeria sources.
“Once again, the people of Tyoshin were today visited with another blood bath. Today marks another day of mourning, another black day etched in the hearts of our community. The relentless wave of violence continues as suspected Fulani armed herders have, once more, unleashed terror on our people—this time along the Naka-Makurdi Road,” Ukase wrote.
511 Tyoshin Residents Killed by Terrorists since 2011
“Since 2011, the toll of this violence has been staggering. Between 2011 and 2017, 192 sons and daughters of Tyoshin were gruesomely murdered by herders,” according to Ukase. “From 2018 to 2023, the numbers escalated, with 302 more lives lost in the area. This year alone, 17 individuals have been mercilessly hacked down by these herders. These figures do not include those who have disappeared and have not been seen since 2011. In all, we have lost over 511 lives to this relentless onslaught”, Ukase said.
“Tyoshin land is bleeding, its cries drowned in the deafening silence of indifference,” Ukase went on to say. Our villages, our homes, and our very existence have been under siege for too long. Nine council wards of the Gwer-West Local Government Area have already fallen into the hands of these ruthless attackers,” Ukase wrote in the statement.
“Yet, in the face of this terror, the silence from those sworn to protect us is deafening. The Tyoshin people are abandoned and forsaken by the very government that should shield them. The Federal Government and the Benue State Government remain disturbingly quiet, their inaction a haunting reminder of how alone we truly are,” according to the statement.
“Even the military presence, meant to offer protection, stands idle as the bloodbath continues,” Ukase went on to write.
“How much longer will we endure this pain? How many more must die before our cries are heard? We are a people on the brink of extinction, and yet, our pleas remain unanswered”, Ukase wrote.
“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and to the Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Rev Dr. Iormen Alia: we beg you, we plead with you—come to our rescue! The people of Tyoshin are being wiped off the face of the earth. We do not ask for pity; we ask for justice, protection, and the right to live in our homeland without the constant fear of death. Do not let Tyoshin become a memory.
Act now, before it is too late,” Ukase exhorted.
Gov Alia Faulted for Endless carnage
The Federal Lawmaker representing Gwer/Gwer-West Federal Constituency in the Nigerian National Assembly, Architect Asema Achado, attributed the persistent attacks, kidnappings and killings by Fulani terrorists in Benue State to the surprised Silence and abandonment of the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the state by Gov Hyacinth Alia, a former priest and faith healer.
“The alarming silence from the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia in the face of these gruesome incidents, which have left many innocent people in the area in fear and despair is worrisome.
“The fundamental duty of any government is to safeguard its people and maintain law and order. Governor Alia should explain to the people of Benue the apparent dormancy of the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law since the Governor’s assumption of office in May 2023”, Achabo said in a statement released by his media aide.
Mike Odeh James and Ekani Olikita are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
