A Wednesday, March 1 post-election attack on villages in Nigeria’s Benue State left more than 30 murdered victims and forced the military to evacuate the staff at the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, according to latest reports from the ground.
During the attack, Fulani men armed with military gear descended on the Benue State capital, Makurdi, Fr. Remigius Ihyula, the Director of JPC of the Nigerian Diocese told ACI Africa in a Friday, March 3 exclusive interview.
“We keep wondering how ordinary herders can lay their hands on military gear. The only possible scenario is that they are getting help from the authorities,” Fr. Ihyula said.
The vast majority of the Fulani tribes are Muslims, while the majority of victims are Christian.
Fr. Ihyula said that his colleagues were helping to resettle villagers that had been displaced from their homes by armed herdsmen on separate dates between February 23 and March 1.
“As I speak to you, there are ongoing attacks in several places. An eyewitness called me on the day of the elections (February 25) informing me that people were being slaughtered in Tyopav village. Then more attacks were reported from Anwase village. The reports of attacks kept coming,” the Nigerian Catholic priest said.
He added, “The villages under attack are close to Agagbe camp where our staff works to support the IDPs. On March 1, our staff couldn't leave the camp because the armed attackers were so close by. They had to be escorted out by the military.”
“The attacks are many. Yesterday (March 2), I was sent lists of people who had been killed, and others displaced. I am yet to compile it,” said Fr. Ihyula to ACI Africa. The Priest has been compiling monthly updates of attacks in the area served by the Diocese of Makurdi. Initial reports indicate upwards of 30 deaths.
According to Fr. Ihyula, several villages, including Ityuluv, Ugbe, Iyon, Tyopav, Kendev, Anwase, and Maav, all in Kwande Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State had fallen under attack by militants on February 23 and on February 25, and that militants were advancing to more villages in the Nigerian State, displacing locals.
Attacks are also ongoing in Gwer West LGA where many have been killed and others are still missing.
The member of the Clergy of Makurdi Diocese said that locals in Makurdi are protesting after being displaced from their villages.
Fr. Ihyula told ACI Africa that the staff at the Diocese of Makurdi working at Agagbe camp face the danger of attacks every day and that all of them are living with trauma after witnessing many killings.
“On February 9, our staff witnessed killings near the camp as they were coming from work. On January 21, they ran into another attack. They are all traumatized, and some stay away from work for several days,” he said, adding that the Nigerian Episcopal See was rallying for funds to start a psychosocial support program for its staff.
Additionally, the Diocese plans to evacuate IDPs from Agagbe camp where they are surrounded by danger to Naka camp, which is safer, Fr. Ihyula says.
Meanwhile, the JPC official of Makurdi Diocese foresees a rise in attacks in Benue State after the February 25 elections that declared 70-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu winner of Nigeria’s highly disputed presidential poll.
“The Fulani attacks have been ongoing for years now. In fact, a day hardly passes by without receiving reports of attacks in one village or the other. But with their (Islamist attackers) people entrenched deep in power, all we see in the future are more attacks,” Fr. Ihyula says.
“More villages will be displaced,” he further says, adding that the Catholic Church in Makurdi will, however, “keep telling the story” of the persecution of farming and Christian communities in Nigeria for the whole world to see.
“These people want to suffocate us. When they chase people from their farms, when they sent people to camps where there is no hope, they want us to bend to their demands. They know that poor people can eat ‘shit’ if they are told to do so,” Fr. Ihyula says.
The JPC Director of Makurdi Diocese told ACI Africa that religious-based persecution in Nigeria wasn't as bad as it is today when the country had a Christian as the President. “There used to be attacks against Christians but not as bad as we are witnessing today,” he said during the March 3 interview.
“We know that Muslims, when not empowered, tend to engineer a lot against those in power. And now that they are at the helm of the government, they have refused to decentralize power,” he said.
Fr. Ihyula continued, “All power is concentrated at the top. If the various states were allowed to have their own police, governors would not have allowed their people to be butchered on a daily basis. They would be empowered to act in their own capacity to address insecurity in their various states.”A report that Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) shared with ACI Africa on Friday, March 3 indicates that barely a day after the elections, the herders invaded Tse Alaa in Udaaya community in Guma LGA of Benue State around 9 p.m. and opened fire, killing about eight people before moving to the neighboring village of Tse Magum where continued attacks resulted in several deaths, though the exact number has not been confirmed yet.
DHPI reports that armed Fulanis have been attacking various villages of Turan specifically, Moon, Mkômon, Mbadura and Yaav district all in Kwande LGA.
Jato Aka in the area is now filled with fleeing villagers, the peace entity of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), which is researching the armed conflict in Nigeria’s Benue State says.
DHPI, which has described the violence perpetrated by armed Fulanis as “a gathering storm” links the attacks to the outcome of the recently announced presidential results of Nigeria’s general elections.
“The (herdsmen) have never hidden their preference for the All Progressives Congress which they believe will protect them if it wins elections in Benue State. The election results have motivated the killers who have become more daring,” DHPI says in the March 3 report.