Exposed! The arrested suspected killers of Benue, Taraba earlier tagged “Fulani herdsmen” by CAN, critics

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The line up of the arrested suspects in connection with the killings in Benue and Taraba states axis, as paraded by ACP Jimoh Moshood, Force PRO.

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By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

The unfortunate aspect of the whole problem is the fact that the killings, which became so unusually hyped on January 1, 2018, were not only perpetrated in Benue as on the same Crossover Night in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, 24 Christians were killed but not by people to easily be tagged as Fulani, The DEFENDER investigations revealed.  Those of Port Harcourt were killed by cultists and so there was nothing said beyond January 1 of those 24 Christians but that of Benue took the centre stage to the extent that no one knew anything killing happened in Taraba, Zamfara, Adamawa, Rivers.  It then smacks of some political undertone, some watchers of events confided in us.  Next was Third Force in the Coalition of Nigerian Movement (CNM) promoted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo writing an 18-page letter which branded President Muhammadu Buhari a failure using the killings in Benue as reference and vowing to rescue the country from the President who he said must not seek for re-election 2019.

The Nigerian Police, military and Department of State Services (DSS) have swung into action against incessant killings in the parts of the country particularly Benue and Taraba and they have made a handful of achievements having arrested quite a number of people who have confessed to either be directly or remotely involved in the heinous act.

It would be recalled that Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) kick-started the tag of the killers as “Fulani herdsmen” carrying out the wicked killing of Benue State to achieve northernisation and Islamisation of Nigeria.  The religious body did not talk however about the killings in Taraba where a Fulani leader in the likes of Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, claimed with pictorial evidences that their men as well as their innocent women and kids running to over 700 were massacred on the Mambila plateau, Taraba, without just cause.

The Nigeria Media was awash with news, comments, features and columnists’ works condemning the Sarikin Kano, Sanusi, to have laid such claim of 700 Fulani killed yet evidences continue to prove that even 700 was a number being economical with the truth as, according to our source, quite a number far more than that were killed.

The unfortunate aspect of the whole problem is the fact that the killings, which became so unusually hyped on January 1, 2018, were not only perpetrated in Benue as on the same Crossover Night in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, 24 Christians were killed but not by people to easily be tagged as Fulani, The DEFENDER investigations revealed.  Those of Port Harcourt were killed by cultists and so there was nothing said beyond January 1 of those 24 Christians but that of Benue took the centre stage to the extent that no one knew anything killing happened in Taraba, Zamfara, Adamawa, Rivers.  It then smacks of some political undertone, some watchers of events confided in us.

Next was Third Force in the Coalition of Nigerian Movement (CNM) promoted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo writing an 18-page letter which branded President Muhammadu Buhari a failure using the killings in Benue as reference and vowing to rescue the country from the President who he said must not seek for re-election 2019.

Obasanjo letter was followed by former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida own two letters in less than 24 hours which caused controversy between him and his media aide, Kassim Afegbua, who himself had been waiting for an opportunity to expose his hate for President Buhari.

Then came the call to arms conflict among Nigerians by Lt. Gen. Theophillus Yakubu Danjuma, who after donating N100 million to the Taraba State University on its maiden convocation ceremony, accused the military of ethnic cleansing and he said more.

Amidst the crisis however, Sultan of Sokoto, who himself like President Buhari, is Fulani, became resolute more than ever before repeatedly telling the Federal Government to treat militants who carry guns disguising as herdsmen as criminals, adding that Fulani herdsmen don’t carry guns but stick to herd their cows.

However, President Muhammadu Buhari, who the CAN and some opposition politicians have blamed for giving his Fulani “herdsmen” weapons to carryout ethnic cleansing and Islamise the Northern Central “Christian-dominated state of Benue”, made it point plank that the killings in Benue, although not the only place killings took place, have more to them than meet the eye.

Later in London, United Kingdom ahead of the last Commonship summit, the President told his Archbishop friend that the issue of herdsmen and farmers in the country predated his administration but the current development was the handiwork “irresponsible politicians” made worse by influx into the country of militias trained in Libya by Gaddafi.

Critics, who perhaps had expected Buhari to own up to the accusation and say ‘yes, I equip the Fulani herdsmen to kill in Benue’, spat into the sky and caught it up again with their own eyes saying “the President is incompetent” to have made such statement.  This time around they had reconstructed the President’s comment removing “irresponsible politicians” but only celebrated the aspect that said “militias trained by Gaddafi in Libya”.

Recall it is this twisted part that was widely spread at home in Nigeria while Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia State) stood his ground on the plenary of the already “anti-Buhari” Senate to declare the President as “incompetent”.  Recall also that it was counter to Abaribe that President is “incompetent” that led Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC Delta) into how he incurred the wrath of the Senator Bukola Saraki-led (APC) Senate leadership and he was subsequently suspended, which snowballed into the crisis of Mace removal and there of that.  Senator Omo-Agege has already, on Thursday, been restored to his seat of the Senate by court thereby confirming the anti-Buhari posture of the Senate leadership which has led them into committing many constitutional breaches as unconstitutional.

Undaunted, President, when on invitation of United States President Donald Trump, reiterated his position about the killings in the country adding that Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria don’t carry weapons but stick and, against the expectations of critics at home, the President returned to Nigeria with many good news for the sake of the country.

Meanwhile, while President Buhari was doing all of those diplomatic works that Nigeria may be better, his service chiefs including the military, police and DSS had put heads together at home resulting in the deployment of troops and personnel respectively in the trouble ridden states particularly in the North Central axis comprising of Benue, Taraba and others.

Their efforts in those states have been yielding good results as many supposed herdsmen and militias were being arrested and they have been helping and cooperating with the security forces in their investigations towards unraveling the mainstay of the militancy in the geo-political zone.

When brought to the public, the list of the arrested suspected killers include but not all of the followings:

SUSPECTS ARESTED AS PER BENUE KILLING:
1st Case: ILLEGAL FIREARMS DEALERS
i. Morris Ashwe 36yrs Native of Mbajima Village Katsina Ala LGA Benue State (Working for Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana)
Recovered from him were
i. Five (5) AK47 Rifles,
ii. Two Hundred and Thirty Eight (238) Rounds of AK47 Ammunition
iii. Forty (40) Smoke Grenade Canisters
iv. Seventy Nine (79) LAR Rifle Ammunition
2nd Case: ILLEGAL FIREARMS DEALERS
i. Kabiru Idris 43yrs – Principal Suspect – Arrested in Takum Town, Taraba State
ii. Miracle Emmanuel – Principal Suspect and Gang Leader 27yrs Native of Anambra State
iii. Husseini Safiyanu Native of Taraba State – Principal Suspect
Recovered from them were
i. Five (5) AK47 Rifles
ii. Thirteen (13) AK47 Magazines
iii. Eighty Three (83) Rounds of AK47 Ammunition
3rd Case – KIDNAPPERS/ARMED ROBBERS
i. Emmanuel Ushehemba Kwembe 28yrs Native of Ushongo LGA Benue state,
ii. Sekad Uver 28yrs Native of Koshisha LGA Benue State,
iii. Ordure Fada 22yrs Native of Kwande LGA Benue State,
iv. Stephen Jirgba 18yrs Native of Vande kya LGA Benue State
v. Peter Lorham 24yrs Native of Kinshisha LGA Benue State
vi. Achir Gabriel 30yrs Native of Ushongo LGA Benue State,
vii. Lorhemen Akwambe 35yrs Native of Guma LGA Benue State.
EXHIBITS
i. Two (2) Beretta Pistols

Reacting May 9 via his Facebook post to the suspected unfolded so far, Femi Olatosi said, “These are some of the killers disguised as Fulani herdsmen that killed innocent people in Benue State.  You can see what we have been saying; the killings are designed to tarnish the image of Mr President.”

Another comment by Destiny Young said on May 8 that “We can now conclude that the killings in Benue and some part of the northern Nigeria are not whole perpetrated by the Fulani Herdsmen as some people are made to believe. These are some of the killers arrested by DCP Abba Kyari and his team.

In her own submission, Okolo Oteri Eme, another Nigerian citizen who posted on her Facebook wall, said, “The more the killers are exposed the more the silence.  They are not who or what a section of the country expected them to be. Whatever they must be prosecuted,” she said.

In the meantime, efforts to reach out to Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) leadership, who were accused by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) that the “herdsmen imbroglio” is their own idea, have proved abortive.

In all, it is now clear to Nigerians how not to believe anything said until after they have asked questions and have got convincing answers.


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