Day militants rampaged in Zaki Biam

Origin of Yam market Established since 1982, the Zaki Biam International Yam market in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State, is said to be the largest of its kind in Africa. With over 1000 yam shades, each with five middlemen as sellers, the market is regarded as an “industry” of its own. In addition […]

Origin of Yam market

Established since 1982, the Zaki Biam International Yam market in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State, is said to be the largest of its kind in Africa. With over 1000 yam shades, each with five middlemen as sellers, the market is regarded as an “industry” of its own. In addition to yam markers comprising young men who give unique signs on tubers, there are also those who load the tubers into trucks to earn a living. Restaurant owners and food vendors also make brisk business by selling around the market while transporters are also engaged in conveying goods to various destinations.

Investigations revealed that over 200 pick-up vans loaded with yams from village farms offload at the market on daily basis while no less that 100 trucks convey the  tubers from the market on a daily to various destinations. Then there are security men whose duty is to secure the market. These explain why the Zaki Biam market is always a beehive even as various interest groups often engage in supremacy battles to control the soul of the market.

Day of the rampaging Tiger

But the bustling atmosphere at the popular Ukum market was tampered last Monday when gun wielding arsonists stormed the place an unleashed a reign of terror; leaving over forty people reportedly killed and about 60 houses and shops burnt.

Dressed in military camouflage and bullet proof vests, the invaders-numbering over 30- were said to have arrived in a convoy of four Toyota Corolla and 12 motorbikes. Led by a notorious militant from Tor Donga axis of Shitile in neighboring Katsina Ala local government area, the sophisticated gun wielding militants chanted war songs in Tiv language and opened fire at the market and its surroundings for over three hours before retreating through the same route.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the well-coordinated attack was led by a notorious gangster known in local parlance as Anyam Due (The rampaging Tiger) who was assisted by a female wearing black mask.

In a Gestapo manner, Anyam Due who was said to be leading the operation on a motorbike menacingly jumped down brandishing two sophisticated guns held in both arms while shooting indiscriminately.

Consequently, the deafening sound of gunshots spitting pellets of death rattled the neighbourhood of the market with a deafening intensity even as women, children and the old, ran helter-skelter for their lives. As they unleashed terror and paranoia on innocent victims, the attackers were said to be particularly looking for a target called Ujondo even as the rampaging Tiger barked: “Come out Ujondo if you really want a fight…”

Prior to the attack, it was gathered that, there had been an internal conflict between the yam sellers and the Ukum local government council over who takes charge of security at the market. The council chairman was said to have engaged one suspected thug named Iorlumun Haa (aka Kpom) as chairman of security at the market. But his engagement along with two others did not go down well with the shade owners who accused them of stealing their yam.

The Chairman of Yam shade owners and dealers association at the market, Tavershima Achinge, said following their dissatisfaction with the security arrangement, wrote a protest letter to the council chairman to get them withdrawn.

“We wrote to the council chairman and the traditional council to look into this problem but they failed to respond prompting us to stage a demonstration to the chairman’s office. We told him of our challenge and he promised to look into the matter,”Achinge said.

According to him, the council chairman suspended the three security men only to reinstate them after three weeks without interfacing with the shade owners, a development that made the shade owners to boycott operations at the market.

Maintaining that the protest by the shade owners had nothing to do with the attack, he alleged the violence was masterminded by a faction of some militants that had embraced the Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom’s amnesty programme but later reneged and came to the market on that fateful day to hunt for their repentant members who were engaged to secure the market. He said 30 shade owners were killed during the attack, while three cars were burnt inside the market.

“When you are an armed robber and you defect from your group, you are bound to face problem from the group members; that is the kind of situation that rubbed off on us in the market,” Achinge said.

This position was corroborated by a prominent indigene of Ukum, Dr. Biam Adzege who said the shade owners were unhappy with the security men at the market over alleged stealing of their produce.

Adzege whose house was burnt described the attack as unfortunate saying there was still palpable fear and anxiety among residents of Zaki Biam, known for peace and acceptance of visitors over the years.

But the chairman of security appointed by the council chairman, Iorlumun Haa (aka Kpom), denied links with any militant group as well as allegations that the security men engaged by the council chairman were involved in yam theft at the market.

Victims’ tales of horror

Mercy Edwin, a yam seller, is one of the many injured in the Monday attack. Mercy who is recovering from a gunshot injury recalls that commercial activities had gone on normal that fateful day until the gunmen suddenly appeared.

“When they turned to the direction of my stall, they (gunmen) asked those of us there if we were Tiv or Idoma but out of fear, we chorused Idoma and begged them not to kill us. We didn’t know who they were or what they actual wanted.

“I’m a Tiv woman but I lied to them not to kill me. Despite our plea, they opened fire on us and as they shot sporadically, I lifted my hands to dodge the bullets in my direction and that was how one of it hit my finger. Thereafter, they set my stall alight,” she said.

The story was the same for Hembafan Aondohemba who is also currently receiving treatment alongside Mercy and several others at St. Anthony Catholic hospital in Zaki Biam following injuries sustained form gunshots during the attack.

For Aondohemba, a food vendor, the incident has left her with an indelible trauma such that she may never want to return to that market again. As she groan in pains on her hospital bed she wondered why it was so easy for those dare devils to kill of innocent souls without any slight consideration that their own relatives may even be victims of their actions.

Another survival that simply identified himself as Terngu, who relayed his version of the unfortunate incident, recalled the exploits of a female member of the gang as she dared any challenger to confront them while the operation lasted.

Terngu who narrated that the over attackers were dressed in military camouflage and bullet proof vests, also claimed that death toll rose to 52 a day after the incident as a result of  those that later died in their homes and corpses recovered from nearby bushes.

The acting Ter Ukum (traditional ruler), Teran Kwaghbo, who is still in awe and shock over the attack, put the death toll at 22. Kwaghbo said he was returning from a stakeholders meeting in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, with Governor Ortom when news of the attack on Zaki Biam got to him in Gboko.

“At Gboko, I heard that Zaki Biam was under attack. Since it was getting dark I spent the night in Gboko only to return to Zaki Biam the next day to be confronted with the reality of the situation,” Kwaghbo said, adding that he was particularly worried by the fact that no genuine reason had been advance to warrant the attack.

Although calm is gradually returning to Zaki Biam, residents are still in palpable fear of further attacks.

Chairman of the Zaki Biam branch of National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), Comrade Nyer Iorfa, said the motor park have been deserted as vehicles no longer come for fear of fresh attacks.

Several other residents of Zaki Biam who are gripped by fear following the attacks have started leaving the town. A visit to the affected Yam market showed that it was deserted by traders who have been moving their yam and other items out of the market.

A prominent indigene of the area and a former governorship aspirant in the state, Chief Shima Ayati, blamed the unfortunate development on previous administrations in the state which he said failed to properly harness the agricultural potentials of the area in order to engage idle youths rather than use them for political thuggery.

Ayati is worried that Ukum local government which was known to be peaceful and prosperous in Tiv land due to the industrious nature of its inhabitants engaged in agriculture has degenerated to a safe haven for blood thirsty merchants.

“The recent trend of event is unfortunate and we are worried. Some of us saw it coming from the past administrations in the state which failed to invest in agriculture. Despite the prosperity of the area, it is the most backward in terms of education.

“Sadly enough, past administrations in the state encouraged political activism among the youths to the detriment of agricultural production which the people are known for. Now with the change of political fortune, those boys became a forum of unemployed youths and so banditry as well as all manner of negative vices became the order of the day,” Ayateh posited.

On finding a permanent solution to the problem, Ayati said something needs to be done urgently to engage the large population of uneducated and unemployed youths in the area. He said agriculture must be promoted not only in the area but across the entire state. This, Ayati said, should be part of a social security programme as well as a socio cultural orientation with emphasis on ethics. “There has been a sharp decline in morals among the youth in the state and there has to be a sustained campaign to inculcate those values that the people were known for,” he said.

I saw massive destruction – Ortom

Commenting over the attack, Governor Ortom who attributed it to the handiwork of criminal elements bemoaned the level of destruction caused during the attack. “I saw massive destruction, killings, destruction of farm produce and houses of innocent people thus bringing fear in their minds. Zaki Biam is one of the biggest commercial towns of this state because of their produce but the whole town was deserted,” he said.

The governor, who had cancelled all state engagements including the swearing in ceremony of four new commissioners on Tuesday following the incident, visited the Light of Grace Hospital and St. Anthony’s Hospital in Zaki Biam where victims were recuperating and promised to offset all bills. He directed that some injured be transferred to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) for better attention.

He particularly fingered a notorious criminal, Terwase Akwaza (alias Ghana) who was granted amnesty by his government but later reneged saying: “I am aware that Ghana and his team went there to assassinate some particular people who were seen as informants to government.”

The governor during the visit to one of the hospitals where 17 dead bodies were in the morgue appealed for calm, assuring that the culprits would be apprehended at all cost.

The governor had earlier spoken harshly about Ghana at a stakeholders meeting to find solution to herders and farmers frequent clashes held at the Government House, Makurdi where he vowed that the days of the militia warlord were over.

“Those who are afraid in Katsina-Ala and Sankera to talk about Ghana are just wasting their time. The people from Sankera are shielding him which is not good. Ghana is being shielded by his people. It’s unfortunate. All the Chiefs in his area have ran away. Ghana days are numbered, he will be arrested. People should not be afraid to report him,” Ortom said.

Ghana was a ring leader of a militia group who operated in the Sankera axis of the state until he was granted amnesty by the state government in September, 2015 after he submitted his weapons.

He was later accused by the present administration of murder, kidnapping among others and subsequently advised to report to the police in connection with the murder of Ortom’s Special Assistant on Special Security, the late Denen Igbana, who made a dying declaration that Ghana was among his killers.

On what he saw of the carnage, Ortom said: “I was very sad. The Inspector-General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff have augmented the security personnel that we have here. It is my belief that this kind of thing will never happen again.”

He, however, put the death toll as at the time he visited the area at 17 adding that those receiving treatment were 11. But the State Police Commissioner, Bashir Makama, at the time of this report had confirmed 18 people dead and 11 others injured including a baby; Chinomso Anya, whose mother was killed in the attack.

Makama told our correspondent that 17 deaths were recorded on Monday after the initial attack and that one other person died from a similar invasion in a surrounding community of Zaki Biam on Tuesday, bringing the total to 18.

Although the commissioner claimed that three people had been arrested in connection with the attack, Governor Ortom said in spite of his directive to the police to effect arrest anybody carrying illegal arms, the police was yet to respond. “I want to see practical things. I want to see the arrest, so where are the people?” an angry Ortom asked.

Zaki Biam, known for peace and acceptance of visitors over the years.

But the chairman of security appointed by the council chairman, Iorlumun Haa (aka Kpom), denied links with any militant group as well as allegations that the security men engaged by the council chairman were involved in yam theft at the market.

Victims’ tales of horror

Mercy Edwin, a yam seller, is one of the many injured in the Monday attack. Mercy who is recovering from a gunshot injury recalls that commercial activities had gone on normal that fateful day until the gunmen suddenly appeared.

“When they turned to the direction of my stall, they (gunmen) asked those of us there if we were Tiv or Idoma but out of fear, we chorused Idoma and begged them not to kill us. We didn’t know who they were or what they actual wanted.

“I’m a Tiv woman but I lied to them not to kill me. Despite our plea, they opened fire on us and as they shot sporadically, I lifted my hands to dodge the bullets in my direction and that was how one of it hit my finger. Thereafter, they set my stall alight,” she said.

The story was the same for Hembafan Aondohemba who is also currently receiving treatment alongside Mercy and several others at St. Anthony Catholic hospital in Zaki Biam following injuries sustained form gunshots during the attack.

For Aondohemba, a food vendor, the incident has left her with an indelible trauma such that she may never want to return to that market again. As she groan in pains on her hospital bed she wondered why it was so easy for those dare devils to kill of innocent souls without any slight consideration that their own relatives may even be victims of their actions.

Another survival that simply identified himself as Terngu, who relayed his version of the unfortunate incident, recalled the exploits of a female member of the gang as she dared any challenger to confront them while the operation lasted.

Terngu who narrated that the over attackers were dressed in military camouflage and bullet proof vests, also claimed that death toll rose to 52 a day after the incident as a result of  those that later died in their homes and corpses recovered from nearby bushes.

The acting Ter Ukum (traditional ruler), Teran Kwaghbo, who is still in awe and shock over the attack, put the death toll at 22. Kwaghbo said he was returning from a stakeholders meeting in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, with Governor Ortom when news of the attack on Zaki Biam got to him in Gboko.

“At Gboko, I heard that Zaki Biam was under attack. Since it was getting dark I spent the night in Gboko only to return to Zaki Biam the next day to be confronted with the reality of the situation,” Kwaghbo said, adding that he was particularly worried by the fact that no genuine reason had been advance to warrant the attack.

Although calm is gradually returning to Zaki Biam, residents are still in palpable fear of further attacks.

Chairman of the Zaki Biam branch of National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), Comrade Nyer Iorfa, said the motor park have been deserted as vehicles no longer come for fear of fresh attacks.

Several other residents of Zaki Biam who are gripped by fear following the attacks have started leaving the town. A visit to the affected Yam market showed that it was deserted by traders who have been moving their yam and other items out of the market.

A prominent indigene of the area and a former governorship aspirant in the state, Chief Shima Ayati, blamed the unfortunate development on previous administrations in the state which he said failed to properly harness the agricultural potentials of the area in order to engage idle youths rather than use them for political thuggery.

Ayati is worried that Ukum local government which was known to be peaceful and prosperous in Tiv land due to the industrious nature of its inhabitants engaged in agriculture has degenerated to a safe haven for blood thirsty merchants.

“The recent trend of event is unfortunate and we are worried. Some of us saw it coming from the past administrations in the state which failed to invest in agriculture. Despite the prosperity of the area, it is the most backward in terms of education.

“Sadly enough, past administrations in the state encouraged political activism among the youths to the detriment of agricultural production which the people are known for. Now with the change of political fortune, those boys became a forum of unemployed youths and so banditry as well as all manner of negative vices became the order of the day,” Ayateh posited.

On finding a permanent solution to the problem, Ayati said something needs to be done urgently to engage the large population of uneducated and unemployed youths in the area. He said agriculture must be promoted not only in the area but across the entire state. This, Ayati said, should be part of a social security programme as well as a socio cultural orientation with emphasis on ethics. “There has been a sharp decline in morals among the youth in the state and there has to be a sustained campaign to inculcate those values that the people were known for,” he said.

I saw massive destruction – Ortom

Commenting over the attack, Governor Ortom who attributed it to the handiwork of criminal elements bemoaned the level of destruction caused during the attack. “I saw massive destruction, killings, destruction of farm produce and houses of innocent people thus bringing fear in their minds. Zaki Biam is one of the biggest commercial towns of this state because of their produce but the whole town was deserted,” he said.

The governor, who had cancelled all state engagements including the swearing in ceremony of four new commissioners on Tuesday following the incident, visited the Light of Grace Hospital and St. Anthony’s Hospital in Zaki Biam where victims were recuperating and promised to offset all bills. He directed that some injured be transferred to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) for better attention.

He particularly fingered a notorious criminal, Terwase Akwaza (alias Ghana) who was granted amnesty by his government but later reneged saying: “I am aware that Ghana and his team went there to assassinate some particular people who were seen as informants to government.”

The governor during the visit to one of the hospitals where 17 dead bodies were in the morgue appealed for calm, assuring that the culprits would be apprehended at all cost.

The governor had earlier spoken harshly about Ghana at a stakeholders meeting to find solution to herders and farmers frequent clashes held at the Government House, Makurdi where he vowed that the days of the militia warlord were over.

“Those who are afraid in Katsina-Ala and Sankera to talk about Ghana are just wasting their time. The people from Sankera are shielding him which is not good. Ghana is being shielded by his people. It’s unfortunate. All the Chiefs in his area have ran away. Ghana days are numbered, he will be arrested. People should not be afraid to report him,” Ortom said.

Ghana was a ring leader of a militia group who operated in the Sankera axis of the state until he was granted amnesty by the state government in September, 2015 after he submitted his weapons.

He was later accused by the present administration of murder, kidnapping among others and subsequently advised to report to the police in connection with the murder of Ortom’s Special Assistant on Special Security, the late Denen Igbana, who made a dying declaration that Ghana was among his killers.

On what he saw of the carnage, Ortom said: “I was very sad. The Inspector-General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff have augmented the security personnel that we have here. It is my belief that this kind of thing will never happen again.”

He, however, put the death toll as at the time he visited the area at 17 adding that those receiving treatment were 11. But the State Police Commissioner, Bashir Makama, at the time of this report had confirmed 18 people dead and 11 others injured including a baby; Chinomso Anya, whose mother was killed in the attack.

Makama told our correspondent that 17 deaths were recorded on Monday after the initial attack and that one other person died from a similar invasion in a surrounding community of Zaki Biam on Tuesday, bringing the total to 18.

Although the commissioner claimed that three people had been arrested in connection with the attack, Governor Ortom said in spite of his directive to the police to effect arrest anybody carrying illegal arms, the police was yet to respond. “I want to see practical things. I want to see the arrest, so where are the people?” an angry Ortom asked.