Killings: Is Benue already missing Ortom, by Godwin Tsa

Benue State, the food basket of the nation, has gradually lost it’s enviable status due to incessant unprovoked attacks and killings of innocent people and massive destruction of properties by marauding killer Fulani herdsmen.

In fact, no day passes that Makurdi, the state capital, Guma, Logo, Gwer- West, Kwande, Ado, Agatu and Okpokwu among other Local Government Areas do not record incidences of terrorists, raping, maiming and hacking to death, indigenes of these communities and other unwholesome crimes.

The festering herders and famers clashes which started in the state in 2012 has led to displacement of citizens from their ancestral homes, loss of family breadwinners and created huge problems of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Indeed, the over two million victims of the attacks who have been forced into this refugee camps are languishing in hunger, depression, and inhumane living conditions, including food and water shortages, poor sanitation, and mental health issues due to associated trauma of displacement from their ancestral homes.

In all of these unprovoked killings and mass destruction of houses and farmlands in the state, the body language of the federal government and security agencies appears to be supporting the herdsmen in their agenda to conquer and occupy Benue territory.

The present administration of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia came smoking with promises to deal with the deadly situation. Sadly, for close to two years into office, the killings has not ceased as guns are still smoking with blood flowing endlessly, with voices of victims, their pain and sufferings being drowned out by competing interests.

Unlike his predecessor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, whose tenure was marked by frequent statements about the security crisis, Governor Alia has refused to publicly decried the insecurity plaguing the state.

Indeed, Ortom became a vocal advocate for the people with frequent statement