Benue attacks: Chemical substances now used in killing people – Reps heard
The House of Representatives today heard that the series of attacks in Benue State has taken a new dimension where people are now killed through chemical weapons. This revelation was made by a lawmaker from Benue State, Rep Christiana Alaaga, who said about 15 dead bodies were recently recovered with foams on their mouths but […]
The House of Representatives today heard that the series of attacks in Benue State has taken a new dimension where people are now killed through chemical weapons.
This revelation was made by a lawmaker from Benue State, Rep Christiana Alaaga, who said about 15 dead bodies were recently recovered with foams on their mouths but without any bullet wounds after an attack on some villages on March 25.
She said “nomadic herdsmen numbering over 200 laid siege on Agena and Mbatsada communities of Gwer East Local Government in the early hours of the 25th March 2014 shot and killed people as they came out of their houses. At the end of the day, 20 people were killed including women and children with 500 people rendered homeless, most affected being women, children and vulnerable.
“More alarming is the new and dangerous dimension this crisis has taken; that is the use of substances suspected to be chemical weapons. In this particular instance, 15 people were killed in an attack in Sengev another council ward in my constituency by the suspected Fulani herdsmen who may have used chemical weapons because the bodies recovered were all foaming at the mouths with no bullet wounds or machete cuts,” she said.
Alaaga added that “There are several of such reports in Benue State. If this deadly practice is not nipped in the bud, the consequences will be catastrophic as the use of chemical weapons is condemned worldwide.”
“Furthermore, we are presently faced with a humanitarian crisis of internally displaced persons, some fleeing to Makurdi, Aliade and other locations. It is pathetic to see women and children moving en mass along the roads carrying what little belongings they could salvage,” she added.
She said if the killings were not stopped, they might spread to other parts of the country, saying “the 45 kilometre Makurdi/Naka Federal Government highway has been completely taken over for the past two months by these invaders who shoot and kill at sight anybody that ventures to pass on this road, consequently crippling interstate transportation and all commercial activities via this road.”
She said most farmlands and settlements along the roads “are now taken over by these herdsmen who graze their cattle on farm crops left behind by fleeing farmers.
She bemoaned the situation, saying “with the growing number of internally displaced persons, there is impending humanitarian crises like the outbreak of epidemics, famine and crime all resulting to more casualties.”
Alaaga therefore prayed the House to call on the Federal Government to compensate the farmers who have lost
their farmlands and crops and appeal to “security agencies like the Nigerian Army, Police and DSS to arrest
the perpetrators of this violence, especially those using the alleged chemical weapons to attack farmers and bring them to book.”
She said the House should also “condemn in very clear terms the killings and maiming by the herdsmen” and “urge the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials to the surviving victims of
the attacks who are internally displaced in Agena, Mbatsada, Sengev and Mbakyoondu communities.”
She prayed further that the House should direct the security agencies to take urgent steps to ensure the protection of travellers and motorists on Makurdi/Naka Federal interstate highway as well as evacuate those herdsmen who have settled on ancestral farmlands and taken possession of houses in Gwer West local government.”
Her motion was unanimously adopted by lawmakers present at today’s plenary. Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal subsequently referred it to the committee on NEMA and disaster management for further action.