Nigerian Army Saturday disclosed that as part of efforts to end the incessant killings in Benue communities, it is adjusting the deployment of its troops to flashpoints.
The Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai, made the disclosure when he visited a military tactical operational base near Otukpo in Benue State.
He said the new strategy by the army was part of measures to end the massive killings in Agatu communities of Benue State and expressed confidence that the mayhem would be contained.
According to him, all logistics and other requirements have been provided for the operation.
“The crisis here is unfortunate, the farmers and herdsmen fighting must not be condoned. I have heard from the commander about the existence of criminal elements who engage in cattle rustling.
“We have observed the deployment of troops on ground, we are adjusting our troop’s deployment to take care of the flash-points and likely areas where the criminals are hiding,” he said.
The COAS said measures have been adopted to ensure that the clashes do not repeat and the people return to their settlements.
He noted that the troops were cooperating with other security agencies to restore peace and order in the area.
The Army chief met with operation commanders on measures adopted to contain the crisis in the area so far.
Why we attacked Agatu – Fulani Group
A leader of the Fulani ethnic group has provided a detailed insight into why his people attacked the Agatu people of Benue, sacking several communities and killing hundreds.
In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the Interim National Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Association Saleh Bayeri, rose in defence of his kinsmen, saying the February bloody conflict in Benue was a reprisal attack by his people against the Agatus who he accused of killing, in 2013, a prominent Fulani man.
Gan Allah Fulani Association is an umbrella body of Fulani associations in Nigeria.
Bayeri said the killing of the man reverberated among every Fulani in West Africa.
He insisted that the Agatu farmers were aggressors shedding crocodile tears, and wondered why former Senate President David Mark, was only just realising the meaning of genocide.
Mark was last week Friday attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen who ambushed his convoy in Agatu where he had gone for an on-the-spot assessment of losses of lives and properties.
Mark, who represents the area in the Senate, had described the killings as genocide.
Although the Nigerian Senate last Wednesday blamed Boko Haram insurgents for the mass killings in Agatu, Bayeri said the attacks were orchestrated by Fulani herdsmen in revenge of the killing of one of their leaders by Agatu people three years ago.
The Fulani leader recalled about 20 Agatu and Tiv militia, on April 20, 2013, invaded the compound of one Shehu Abdullahi, killed him and carted away over 200 cows.
According to him, the Police in the area “arrested four of the attackers carrying some of the meat on their motorcycle and they were taken to Naka police station”.
Bayeri also said 16 of the attackers abandoned their motorcycles and ran away and the police took the motorcycles to the station.
He said the police confirmed to Fulani leaders that they knew where 150 of the cows were kept and the “Divisional Police Officer promised to recover and return the cows, but up till today, nothing has happened,” Mr. Bayeri said.
-Leadership
