By Peter Duru, Makurdi
The Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Dr. Emmanuel Shior, Friday, wept uncontrollably when he alongside the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Wale Abass and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Col. Paul Hemba (retd.) visited Abagena community where two Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, a family of six and one other were Thursday night gruesomely killed by suspected armed herdsmen.
The attack on Abagena community which is the host community of a major IDPs camp in the outskirts of Makurdi town also left several persons with severe injuries.
Addressing the mourners and members of the community, Dr. Shior described the attack as inhuman, barbaric, and unacceptable.
He lamented that nothing should have spurred a human being to “attack a people who have accepted the fate of their circumstances and decided to stay in the IDPs camps for safety.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to live up to his responsibility to safeguard the lives and properties of all Nigerians.
He said, “My heart breaks a thousand times at the rate things keep degenerating retrogressively, to an extent that you never can tell who will be the next victim.”
He regretted that President Buhari has failed to live to his constitutional responsibility of defending the country against Fulani herdsmen terrorism and attacks by criminal elements “because it is so bad to the extent that whether civilian or law enforcement agent, you can fall victim.
“It’s a shame that the President, who is the Chief Security Officer of this country, wouldn’t rise up to defend the people who entrust their lives into his hands.”
The Executive Secretary urged the people to continue to support Governor Samuel Ortom for his stance against the invaders, assuring that the country would one day attend to the cries of Benue people.
While commiserating with families of the deceased, he prayed God to give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss assuring that security would be beefed up in the community.
The Commissioner of Police who also commiserated with the families of the deceased promised to station policemen in the area for surveillance.
The Mue Ter Ihyarev in Makurdi LGA, Chief Simon Ajoh, also lamented the frequent attacks on the community and called on the Federal Government to intervention.
One of the victims who narrowly escaped death, Mr. Jacob Tarsaa, said the casualty figure would have been higher “but when the IDPs heard the gunshots they ran in different directions in the bushes to escape being killed by the attackers.”
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