- “When a god starts to misbehave, we will show it the tree from which it was carved” – Igbo Proverb.
Like a tidal wave, they stormed the Benue valley. First, hundreds of heavily armed fighters on motorbikes, followed by thousands of cattle in droves. They poured into the Sankera axis and headed straight for Ukum, where the local warlords, Sesugh Anyogo, Chen, Full Fire and Konyo had terrorised the local residents for many months, killing, kidnapping and extorting. The locals shouted themselves hoarse, but no one paid attention. After all, the Governor himself, at an earlier media chat, had defended their right to freedom of movement, citing the ECOWAS protocol.
At this point, the people could only stand aside and watch helplessly as the invaders confidently marched into their communities and took over their homes and farmlands. If they passed by your place without stopping, you could only shout your welcomes and smile at the obviously unwelcome visitors, or else…
According to the locals, the military arrived, went to Chito, wasted expensive bullets firing in the air, and then departed. They later came back to help retrieve corpses from the bush.
The invaders had earlier occupied dozens of communities in other parts of Tivland (Kwande, Gwer West, Guma, Logo) and Idomaland (Agatu, etc), wreaking havoc on the populace, burning homes, ravaging farmlands and sending the residents fleeing for dear life.
The bloodletting on the Plateau, particularly Bokkos and Bassa had grabbed all the national headlines, but the situation in Benue remained muted.
AND WHERE OUR LEADERS, THE TIN GODS OF BENUE REIGN SUPREME, THERE HAS BEEN A PALPABLE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE!
At the National Assembly, the elected representatives of Benue State kept sealed lips. Not even a veiled reference to the carnage let loose on the very people who had (probably) elected them.
The local media has also been complicit. They report only what the government permits them. No journalist has dared to venture further than the governor’s convoy and the press releases of his mouthpieces. The casualty figures they gave belied the reality. The figures have been in units although the body count may have hit the hundreds.
Then the slaughter in Ukum began. Government said five people were killed in local skirmishes over land. However, the visual evidence and eyewitness accounts revealed a situation far more dire.
At last, the Governor was forced out of his initial reticence, and visited Ukum to see things for himself. The victims were visibly ANGRY.
And what about our LEADERS? They have been at loggerheads right after the general elections in 2023. You are either with GSMSGF Just George or with Yes Fada Hyacinth. The two men have been so preoccupied with their fratricidal war of attrition, undermining each other wherever and whenever. The only point of agreement between the two and their followers is either DENYING or failing to acknowledge the existence of the menace.
The Governor’s adversaries at the National Assembly (a.k.a ‘Bucket Men”), who are loyal to LEADER at the Federal Government have kept mute, publicly or privately. They are probably hoping that the campaign of occupation would overwhelm and consume Yes Fada, necessitating another “state of emergency” a la Sim Fubara of Rivers State. Nuisance removed.
Back home, lawmakers in the State House of Assembly, even those whose constituencies have fallen to the invaders, dare not mention the situation and risk the reverend governor’s wrath. The memory of their suspended colleagues over the issue of the (unconstitutional) removal of the State Chief Judge remains fresh.
While Federal allows the State governor stew in his own juice, Yes Fada is fighting for political survival. In this respect, the alliances he appears to have formed, are mostly leaders from the same ethnic extraction as the invading herdsmen. He dare not risk their wrath as well.
From all indications, the rulers from the far North have the Benue leaders by the balls!
As for the Ukum gods, they have long been shown the wood they were carved from. Beginning with Terwase Akwaza, they succeeded in creating a Frankenstein monster – the bandit leaders that have been wreaking havoc across Sankera – that they can no longer control.
These armed militia leaders (Anyogo, Chen, Full and Konyo) have been engaged in a brutal mutual vendetta of bloodletting, fighting turf wars. And in the face of an external threat, they are so divided, they would rather collaborate with the invaders to eliminate their local rivals, than unite to combat the herders’ menace.
The Ogas at the top have their own private vested interests: financial, business, political interests to protect, as they all have their eyes on staying afloat, come 2027. They dare not say anything, for fear of offending their godfathers (yes, the fathers of gods) from the North. What makes them think they’ll make it that far, we don’t know. Would they even have any constituencies left to elect them?
WHAT IS OBVIOUS IS THAT OUR LOCAL GODS HAVE BEEN STRIPPED NAKED AND MADE TO DANCE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE, WITH THEIR LIPS SEWN TIGHT.
Let them continue to bury their heads in sand like a wobble of ostriches!
The above is from the Facebook page of Charlie Erukaa
