The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday observed a minute silence to mourn 47 persons killed in Benue State by suspected killer herdsmen on April 6, 2023.
This follows a motion presented by Senator Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) calling the attention of his colleagues to the siege in Benue South Communities by suspected herdsmen who have unleashed mayhem in the senatorial district.
Coming under orders 42 (personal explanation) the lawmaker said the onslaught of the 6th April, 2023 in Umogidi of Otukpo Local Government Area took over 47 lives including a 33-year-old son of the current council chairman of the local government area, Hon. Bako Ejeh.
The Benue lawmaker lamented that series of attacks and kidnappings are being carried out by suspected killers’ herdsmen in communities of Benue South Senatorial District, Causing wanton destruction of lives and property, yet as at today, no single person out of the perpetrators of the heinous attacks, has been apprehended.
He added that hundreds of indigenes of Benue have been displaced from their ancestral homes while Survivors of the March attacks in Ikobi, Atakpa, Akpete, Edikwu, Oiji, Ijaha, Opaha, Odugbo and Ugbobi communities in the senatorial district have fled and abandoned their homes for fear of further attacks.
He urged the Nigerian Army and other relevant security agencies to mobilize personnel to the affected communities, and carry out comprehensive surveillance to proactively detect and deter further attacks.
He also called on the Nigerian Police and other relevant security agencies, as a matter of national emergency, to review their operational mechanism with a view to being more proactive.
The lawmaker also wants the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management to immediately mobilize relief materials to those persons displaced by these attacks and taking refuge in different Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps around the district.
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