Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed
Nasarawa
State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, and his counterpart in Benue, Gabriel
Suswan, on Thursday briefed the Presidency on the precarious security
situation in their states.
While Al-Makura briefed Vice-President
Namadi Sambo on the killing of over 20 policemen by members of a cult
group in Alakyo Village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state
capital, on Wednesday, Suswan filed a report on the clashes between
Fulani cattle rearers and farmers with a casualty figure which he
described as “high and including women and children.”
President Goodluck Jonathan is currently
in South Africa where he is participating in the World Economic Forum
on Africa holding in Cape Town.
Shortly after a closed-door meeting with
the Vice-President, Al-Makura told State House correspondents that his
mission in Abuja was to report the activities of the Ombatse Militia to the Federal Government.
He said he had convened an emergency
security meeting over the activities of the group where it was decided
that security operatives should raid their shrine and arrest members but
that the suspected cultists waited in ambush for policemen in the
shrine on Wednesday and murdered 20 of them.
The governor said members of the group
usually moved from one place to another, including mosques and churches,
to attack helpless citizens.
He said because of the magnitude of the
incident, he decided to come to Abuja to report it to the Federal
Government and seek assistance.
The governor said, “I am here to meet
with His Excellency, the Vice-President to brief him on the security
situation in my state. Just yesterday (Wednesday), we had a very bitter
security problem that has caused the death of some security officers in
the state.
“Two weeks ago, we discovered a certain
militia group holding arms and carrying out cult activities in the
state. Since January, this thing has not abated and in the past two
weeks, it took a total different dimension.
“They have been going from one place to
another, including churches and taking people for that particular ethnic
group to come and take portions that are meant to empower them to do
what they want to do.
“This escalated and is causing serious
concern for the state. We decided to hold a security meeting to find a
way of solving the problem. The solution was to go to the shrine and
pick on the cult leader so that the problem will be solved once and for
all.
“As security operatives were approaching
the shrine, unknown to them that ambush had been laid, these people
attacked them, resulting in the death of more than 20 policemen.”
Al-Makura said the militia group had been proscribed by his administration since January because of its nefarious activities.
He said their modus operandi included going about with arms and attacking any area that has conflict with any of their members.
“Victims of the attacks, those who are
security operatives and those who are not, we will see how we can assist
their families,” he said.
Suswan on his part told reporters that
the casualties in the clash in Agatu Local Government Area of his state
included helpless women and children who were attacked while asleep.
The governor said, “I came to brief the
Vice-President on the security situation in Benue. You must have heard
that there are serious altercations between the Fulanis and the local
farmers. This time it happened in Agatu Local Government which is one of
the local governments that the Senate President represents, and they
almost overran the local government and there was a lot of killings, a
lot of property destroyed and I felt that I should come to brief the
Vice-President, who is holding forth for the President; and I also
discussed other sundry issues that relate to the general security
situation in the country.
“I think that we should be very
decisive, the security agencies must be decisive. Where people kill
uniform people with impunity is totally unacceptable and when there is a
situation like that and the security agencies react and people say they
are excessive, it is not right.”
Suswan said he had been able to maintain peace and order in his state until the issue of the Fulani cattle rearers.
He said he and the Vice-President felt the issue had to be discussed at the level of the National Economic Council.
The governors’ rush to the Presidency
came hours after members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on
Tuesday attacked Bama in Borno State leading to the death of persons0,
including 22 policemen, two soldiers and 14 prison officials.
The Bama attack was seen as the worst of the massacres the Boko Haram elements had unleashed on the country.
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