The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on the Federal Government to muster all security apparatus to prevent further violence and killings in Benue State.
The ACF said it is greatly disturbed by yet another tragic episode of violence, leading to the gruesome death of scores of persons, and injuries to many, including women, children and the elderly, in Yelwata community, Benue State.
In a statement, the spokesman of the forum, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, on Monday, consoled with members of the community, the government and people of Benue State, and indeed Nigeria as a whole.
He prayed for the repose of the souls of the dead, commiserated with the injured and wished them a quick recovery.
He said: ” ACF categorically and unequivocally condemns the senseless killings that continue to escalate for far too long, every time with tragic consequences, and potent threats to the shared destiny in Arewa and indeed in Nigeria. The gruesome incident at Yelwata is only the latest in a cascading series of catastrophic violence, pitching farmers and herders, which dishearteningly seems to defy solutions, including decisive action by the Federal Government-controlled security agencies.”
He lamented that the incident had occurred a few days before the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was to take a high-visibility relocation to Benue State.
“That the Yelwata Tragedy would take place within days of the COAS’s relocation clearly illustrates that prevailing curtailment strategy must therefore be reviewed, to frontally confront the discomfiting regime of terrorism, insurgencies, banditry, communal conflicts, etc, however labelled. Proactive measures, including vigilance and improved intelligence gathering, must be the crucial ingredients of new curtailment strategies against the recurring cycle of senseless violence,” he added.
Meanwhile, Muhammad-Baba said the ACF has called on citizens of Benue and other violence-prone states to commit to rejecting hate narratives, fear and anger and replace them with empathy, understanding, cooperation and reconciliation.
He said the Northern group commended the efforts of Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, saying he “has been visibly trying to fashion a new approach to finding lasting peace in the state, and refreshingly, through inclusive peace-building efforts to unearth the underlying causes of the cycle of violence.”
The ACF spokesman said, “In doing so, impunity must not be allowed to continue to hold sway; all those found culpable must be held to justice.”
The forum also encouraged community and religious leaders in the affected communities “to utilise every opportunity at their disposal to act and foster exhaustive and inclusive dialogue and understanding between communities, denounce violence and incitement as well as to promote values of shared humanity, tolerance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.”
