Police confirm killing of farmer in Benue State

Maku laments insecurity, hunger in Nasarawa
Benue State police command has confirmed the killing of a farmer by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Logo Council of Benue State. Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Moses Yamu, who confirmed the incident yesterday, said the police were yet to ascertain the cause of the death, though herdsmen were fingered.

He added that investigation to unravel the circumstances behind the man’s death was ongoing. “Our men in Logo contacted the executive chairman of the council who is the chief security officer. From available information, the farmer went to the farm on December 24, 2018 to harvest corns, but didn’t come back.

“So, on December 25, the council chairman went to the farm with some youths, in company of the army, and they recovered the corpse of the man with gun wounds on the head,” the police said.

The Guardian noted the victim’s name as Iorwuese Myaga, a father of seven. But a community leader in the area, Chief Joseph Anawah, insisted: “The herdsmen ambushed and shot him at close range behind at the neck, piercing his gullet through the stomach.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate, Labaran Maku, has expressed worry over silent killings and the level of poverty in the state.

According to him, even as massive killings reduced, many rural communities in the state are not safe because secret killings, as well as mysterious and unexplained deaths are still ongoing. The former minister of information gave the hint while addressing various support groups who paid him Christmas homage at his country home in Wakama yesterday. He fingered the state government as the cause of the insecurity.

“The main cause of crises that ravaged the state is injustice on the side of the state government and failure to use state resources to empower the citizens. “ A government that received over N400 billion in seven years with other intervention funds running into N50 billion and yet poverty is like the trademark of the citizenry is not acceptable.

“As I went round some rural communities recently, I wept because of the rising level of poverty, as the citizens cannot afford two meals a day, not to talk of building good shelter. “ These rural dwellers deserve to be cared for as citizens. God will hold me responsible when I become the governor and I don’t care for them,” he said. Maku warned the electorate not to sell their votes because that would amount to enslavement for another four years. He called on politicians to shun campaign of hatred, and security agents not to take sides with any political party or candidate.

(Guardian News Nigeria)

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