The half a decade-long suffering of Benue IDPs

Sad years ago, the herders stroke with their perennial gifts; guns and machetes,

shooting, burning and butchering at sight, sparing no gender or age bracket.

Great lost were counted;

The dead were mass buried in tears.

The injured admitted with some given up.

The survival were traced and brought together.

Five years later, these Fulani herdmen genocide survivors now christened Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, are still feeding at the mercies of volunteers, and sleeping in and on what words can’t

depict…

They crave to see Home.

They wish to own a farm again.

They hope to eat from their kitchen.

They pray to survive government negligence after surviving the heartless herders.

This is the plight of the Benue IDPs some of whom have spent nearly a decade of their lives in the camp as echoed by Rabboni Yiman Tayar.

It would be recall that Benue State fondly called ‘The Food Basket of the Nation’ – a slogan it owed to it arable land- in 2016, became the epicenter of herdsmen/farmers’ clashes in Nigeria after series of killer herdsmen’s attacks in the five local government areas of Buruku, Katsina-Ala, Logo, Guma and Agatu, sacked hundreds of agrarian communities, with thousands killed and almost a million displaced.

The climax of the Fulani herdsmen genocide against the state was the January 1 2018 murder of 73 villagers in Guma local government area of the state which sparked local and international condemnations.

The deceased persons were mass buried amidst statewide mourning, while the hundreds displaced where camped at place now known as Benue IDPs’ camp along the Federal University of Agriculture road in Makurdi, the state capital, away from the reach of the predating killer herdsmen.

Many years after, this writer observed that, the Benue state government may have indeed succeeded in shading the IDPs from the double-edged swords of the bloody herdsmen but certainly not from the more painful sword of natural forces like hunger, pervert, diseases etc.

In fact, the government itself has abandoned them.

A visit to the IDPs camp will attest to this; the nightmarish conditions they are exposed to.

They live in huts build with sacks and mosquito nets.

Sleep on bare floors and sacks, and drink water from ‘pits’.

They feed solely on the mercies of volunteers.

Some of the IDPs are now aging in the camp, with men and women in their 80s, 90s and 100s having to go through the ‘hard life’ of the camp to survive each day instead of resting as veterans and retirees.

Also many children have been born in the camp. Those children born in the camp and the others brought to the camp don’t have access to education and good health care.

In a recent chat with newsmen, most of the aged IDPs said they are tired and want to go home. They lamented about government negligence and poor treatment by camp officials.

They pleaded with the government to restore security to their communities so they can go back to their farms.

As the sufferings of the IDPs continue to be unattended to, some meaningful youths recently took to social media to protest online for the IDPs to return home with the hash tag ‘Let my people go’, an adaptation of the biblical commandment ‘Pharaoh let my people go’ which God spake through Moses to liberate the children of Israel from the captivity of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh.

During the online protest that took place on April 1, the online protesters posted photos and videos of the suffering Benue IDPs with thought-provoking and soliciting captions.

Some of the posts reads:

Ella Emmanuel wrote; “I thought it is said that ‘children are the leaders of tomorrow; but see now what a fulani man has turned our future leaders into.

How is our country/state going to be a better tomorrow when these our tomorrow leaders are not going to school ??

#Let_my_people_go

#benue_idps_protest”

Daniel Ityavbee wrote; “We eat and make merry but there are those for whom nothing is prepared.

There’s a little boy on whose feet there are no shoes, a little girl who yearns for the cocoon of a mother’s embrace. The sun rises and sets on their heads, the rain drenches their ragged apparel as summer sets in. They have no home. No, not one to call their own.

They have gathered debris of sticks and grasses to make for them shelter that take the semblance of the nest of birds.

Let us lead them home, let us take away the cruelty of seeking asylum in their own fatherland.

#letmypeoplego”

Krayzietee Atu wrote; “Even in Borno state, the IDPs have gone back to their homes….

What is the fate of this helpless Benue IDPs?

#Let_My_People_Go

#Benue_IDPs_protest.”

Whatever way you see it, going back home even to face the killer herdsmen isn’t a bad idea for the IDPs are they have been exposed to other deadly elements like hunger and diseases in the camp for over five (5) years.

Now, they have made a statement, and it is loud and clear; “Let us go!”

Sunny Green Itodo

Writes from Abuja.

greenbox247online@gmail.com.