Governor of Benue State , Dr. Gabriel Suswam during a visit by the joint Senate Committee on Security and Intelligence yesterday Thursday, April 10, 2014 to the Government House disclosed that the ongoing violence in the state is an act of terrorists attack by insurgents and not mere farmers and herdsmen.
He expressed great concern that the attackers have resort to the use of dangerous chemical weapons on the life of his people and as a result of this has made them live in constant fear.
The Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on National Security/Intelligence, Defense, Police and Interior, Senator Mammam Magoro said after close deliberation on the issue,the senate had concluded that the joint committee should visit the states again on a fact finding mission.
Sun News reports:
Benue State Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam has insisted that those perpetrating violence in the state are not Fulani but insurgents who are just bent on wiping out the Tiv race.
Suswam, who made the observation yesterday while playing host to the joint Senate Committee on Security and Intelligence at Government House, said that the situation had become worrisome owing to the insurgents’ mode of operation.
He maintained that the people of the state lived in fear because the insurgents had their base in the neighbouring Nasarawa State, from where they invade his state, strike and run back.
“This is not the case of ordinary herdsmen that we know who come around with their wives and children. These ones come with AK 47 (rifles), shoot and kill unprovoked. The destruction they have caused in the state in terms of property and deaths is unquantifiable. We are not saying, we don’t want to live with Fulani around us, but those that come with AK 47,” Suswam maintained.
The governor expressed disgust at the insurgents’ resort to the use of chemical weapons on his people, describing the development as a signal that their intention was to massively wipe out the Benue race. He urged the senate committee to seriously discuss the issue with the Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Almakura, as they visit Nasarawa in furtherance of their assignment.
Suswam commended the senate committee for the seriousness it had shown on the invasion of the state by the terrorists and thanked Senator Barnabas Gemade for not allowing the upper chamber of the National Assembly to rest on the issue.
Earlier, chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on National Security/Intelligence, Defense, Police and Interior, Senator Mammam Magoro, who led other members of the team on the visit said the visit of the committee, was in view of the motion moved by Senator Gemade on the floor of the senate over the spate of attack on Benue and other states by Fulani marauders.
Senator Magoro said after serious deliberation on the issue, the senate resolved that the joint committee should visit the states on a fact finding mission.
“What we are experiencing is totally strange to us and there is need for us to come together, else nobody will do it for us. We are here and we expect to get briefing from government, security agents, traditional rulers and other relevant groups.”
After that, we will move to Nasarawa and then, Plateau State. We want people to be very frank about their submissions,” Magoro said.
