By Amos Aar
BENUE State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) has called on the International Community and well-meaning stakeholders in Nigeria to intervene in the humanitarian situation in Benue State occasioned by alleged herders-farmers conflict.
Briefing journalists Monday on the humanitarian crisis, BSEMA Executive Secretary, Dr Emmanuel Shior, said five thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight (5,138) people have been killed since 2015.
Shior, who said 18 out of 23 local government areas in Benue State have been affected by the attacks, said in 2015 when Governor Samuel Ortom came on board as Governor, 1,177 deaths were recorded, 809 in 2016, 43 in 2017, 430 in 2018, 174 in 2019, 88 in 2020, 2,131 in 2021, 172 in 2022 and 104 between January-March, 2023.
Shior lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has given a deaf ear to the Killings in Benue and the hardship faced by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state unlike states in the far North that are in similar situation that have allegedly benefited from several federal government’s interventions.
The BSEMA boss also alleged that the federal government has refused to support the Anti-Open Grazing Law enacted by the Benue State Government, alleging that that is why the killings have continued.
Dr Shior urged the incoming government at the federal level not to remain indifferent to the Benue killings like President Buhari but deal decisively with the menace.
