Benue villagers Cry out for Help
Mrs. Regina Kwange, a mother of six, is seven months pregnant. She is
one of those taking refuge at the LGEA Central Primary School,
Gbajimba, after her village was sacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
“We were living in our village, which is an island called Mbesu, until the Fulani people came and invaded the place about a month ago.
They came, precisely on May 23, killing and maiming people while also destroying our homes and farmlands. We were lucky to escape alive,” the woman told the reporter.
Since then, this heavily pregnant woman and her family have become tenants at the primary school which also houses over 4000 other displaced persons drawn from different villages across the Guma Local Government area of Benue State and part of Nasarawa State. Mrs. Catherine Shembega, a mother of 10, is also a resident of the camp.
Her village, Tomota near the boundary with Nasarawa State, was allegedly attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen on a Sunday afternoon. She recalled the day with sighs, shaking her head intermittently. “Fulani herdsmen invaded our village that fateful Sunday afternoon.
They came in at about 3pm and operated till about 8 in the evening. By the time the dust cleared, no fewer than 10 persons were left dead while several other persons were injured.
They also burnt down our houses and farmlands. That is why we are here.” The women spoke with the reporter at the Health Clinic, Gbajimba, where they were given mosquito-treated nets after they and their children were immunized.
It was at this year’s Maternal and Child Health Week organized by the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Helen Keller International. Mr. Timothy Ormeah has been in camp for three weeks now after his entire village, Tse-Ormeah, was burnt down by the Fulani herdsmen.
He told Daily Sun that a few days before the invasion, the Fulani fighter had sent text messages through their agents in the village that they were going to strike. “We did not consider the messages serious enough to cause a panic because we had never had any problem with the Fulani people. Unfortunately for us, a few days after the text message was circulated, Fulani invaders struck in our village.
As I am talking to you right now, no house is standing in my village any longer. Everything we laboured for all our lives have been destroyed. “The text message was circulated on the 18th of May, and while we were still weighing the possibilities of their plans to invade our village, they struck on the 23rd of May. The Fulani herdsmen invaded three villages that day, including Akough, Tes-Ormeah and Jija villages.”
The same story goes for the aged men and women, youths and children who are currently taking refuge in this camp.
Though many of them are missing their homes, nobody is ready to take the risk of going back for fear of another attack by the Fulani assailants. Hope of returning to their village gets dimmer and dimmer by the day, especially as more displaced persons are daily being registered at the camp resulting from the continuous attack of their villages by the suspected Fulani assailants.
However, the condition of the camp is nothing to write home about. The displaced victims of the Fulani attacks sleep on the bare floor of the school, as neither mattresses nor beds are provided for them. Most of them also look hungry and frail.
Though situated very close to the General hospital, Gbajimba, there is no clinic at the camp which has continued to play host to internally displaced persons for over one year now. Daily Sun gathered reliably that some of the displaced persons have had to resort to engaging in menial jobs like helping people to farm before they can feed themselves and their children.
An insider who pleaded anonymity said there is hardly any assistance coming from the local government council in terms of feeding, thus necessitating many families in camp to take their destinies in their hands. Many have started looking for other means of survival.
“We had to resort to helping people to farm their lands after which they either pay us or give us foodstuff as payment for our labour. This is how we have been striving to feed our families. The local government authority is trying but whatever comes from there is like a drop of water in an ocean going by our number in this camp alone.
And I heard that the council manages three camps.” Ormeah, who decried the condition of the camp, told Daily Sun that “accommodation and health condition of the camp is very poor. Yesterday night, I trampled on a snake in our room. I was lucky not to have been bitten by the snake. We have also not been feeding well.
“We had to allow our women, children and the elderly amongst us to be sleeping in the classrooms while the rest of us sleep in the open field. Even those who sleep in the classrooms do not have sleeping mats or mattresses.
That is why people keep falling ill in the camp on a daily basis. As I talk to you now, one of the displaced persons, a woman is about to die at the General Hospital close to us here.
She’s been in a coma for some days now and we are just waiting to hear that she has passed on.” They called on the state and federal government as well as corporate organizations and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid.
They noted that they would want kind-hearted persons and groups to assist them with basic necessities of life such as foodstuff, drugs, water and other relief materials. The displaced persons also appealed to the federal government and security agencies to find a lasting solution to the incessant invasion of Tiv villages by Fulani mercenaries.
Efforts to speak with the chairman of Guma Local Government area, Hon. Usa Adi to comment on the matter failed as he was said to be in Makurdi for a security meeting when our reporter visited the area.
“We were living in our village, which is an island called Mbesu, until the Fulani people came and invaded the place about a month ago.
They came, precisely on May 23, killing and maiming people while also destroying our homes and farmlands. We were lucky to escape alive,” the woman told the reporter.
Since then, this heavily pregnant woman and her family have become tenants at the primary school which also houses over 4000 other displaced persons drawn from different villages across the Guma Local Government area of Benue State and part of Nasarawa State. Mrs. Catherine Shembega, a mother of 10, is also a resident of the camp.
Her village, Tomota near the boundary with Nasarawa State, was allegedly attacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen on a Sunday afternoon. She recalled the day with sighs, shaking her head intermittently. “Fulani herdsmen invaded our village that fateful Sunday afternoon.
They came in at about 3pm and operated till about 8 in the evening. By the time the dust cleared, no fewer than 10 persons were left dead while several other persons were injured.
They also burnt down our houses and farmlands. That is why we are here.” The women spoke with the reporter at the Health Clinic, Gbajimba, where they were given mosquito-treated nets after they and their children were immunized.
It was at this year’s Maternal and Child Health Week organized by the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Helen Keller International. Mr. Timothy Ormeah has been in camp for three weeks now after his entire village, Tse-Ormeah, was burnt down by the Fulani herdsmen.
He told Daily Sun that a few days before the invasion, the Fulani fighter had sent text messages through their agents in the village that they were going to strike. “We did not consider the messages serious enough to cause a panic because we had never had any problem with the Fulani people. Unfortunately for us, a few days after the text message was circulated, Fulani invaders struck in our village.
As I am talking to you right now, no house is standing in my village any longer. Everything we laboured for all our lives have been destroyed. “The text message was circulated on the 18th of May, and while we were still weighing the possibilities of their plans to invade our village, they struck on the 23rd of May. The Fulani herdsmen invaded three villages that day, including Akough, Tes-Ormeah and Jija villages.”
The same story goes for the aged men and women, youths and children who are currently taking refuge in this camp.
Though many of them are missing their homes, nobody is ready to take the risk of going back for fear of another attack by the Fulani assailants. Hope of returning to their village gets dimmer and dimmer by the day, especially as more displaced persons are daily being registered at the camp resulting from the continuous attack of their villages by the suspected Fulani assailants.
However, the condition of the camp is nothing to write home about. The displaced victims of the Fulani attacks sleep on the bare floor of the school, as neither mattresses nor beds are provided for them. Most of them also look hungry and frail.
Though situated very close to the General hospital, Gbajimba, there is no clinic at the camp which has continued to play host to internally displaced persons for over one year now. Daily Sun gathered reliably that some of the displaced persons have had to resort to engaging in menial jobs like helping people to farm before they can feed themselves and their children.
An insider who pleaded anonymity said there is hardly any assistance coming from the local government council in terms of feeding, thus necessitating many families in camp to take their destinies in their hands. Many have started looking for other means of survival.
“We had to resort to helping people to farm their lands after which they either pay us or give us foodstuff as payment for our labour. This is how we have been striving to feed our families. The local government authority is trying but whatever comes from there is like a drop of water in an ocean going by our number in this camp alone.
And I heard that the council manages three camps.” Ormeah, who decried the condition of the camp, told Daily Sun that “accommodation and health condition of the camp is very poor. Yesterday night, I trampled on a snake in our room. I was lucky not to have been bitten by the snake. We have also not been feeding well.
“We had to allow our women, children and the elderly amongst us to be sleeping in the classrooms while the rest of us sleep in the open field. Even those who sleep in the classrooms do not have sleeping mats or mattresses.
That is why people keep falling ill in the camp on a daily basis. As I talk to you now, one of the displaced persons, a woman is about to die at the General Hospital close to us here.
She’s been in a coma for some days now and we are just waiting to hear that she has passed on.” They called on the state and federal government as well as corporate organizations and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid.
They noted that they would want kind-hearted persons and groups to assist them with basic necessities of life such as foodstuff, drugs, water and other relief materials. The displaced persons also appealed to the federal government and security agencies to find a lasting solution to the incessant invasion of Tiv villages by Fulani mercenaries.
Efforts to speak with the chairman of Guma Local Government area, Hon. Usa Adi to comment on the matter failed as he was said to be in Makurdi for a security meeting when our reporter visited the area.
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