Benue Massacre

You wake up, the first notification that pops on your screen is about an act of killing and massacre. What is wrong with humanity? We are gradually accepting a new mentality which has torn down the very foundation of our morality. We are riding on a wave of desensitization which is bound to lead us to the shores of destruction. We kill our brothers and maim the reason for our existence. Have we made ourselves God over another man's life or are we just taking this too far. Truth is, the world isn't actually getting worse, we have only gotten better in accepting to live in the ruins of our wrong behaviour. It's a pity how our souls are already burning and we aren't even in hell yet. You know what I hope for? I hope we'll rise up and stand against any form of massacre. Harmattan cold, bushes, fear, pain, anguish, tribulation, confusion, lost loved ones, property, farm harvest... Counting the cost of fulani herdsmen invasion ongoing in Benue RIGHT NOW! Sleep is a far from my eyes. Welcome to my involuntary vigil. Educated, learned and very well exposed folks like me will soon damn the consequences end up in the forests surrounding Benue in defense of our homeland. What's a man without a heritage? A happy family on vacation to their village. They flee to opposite directions at the sound of gunshots, the man is still alive in tears, his two kids no where to be found. His wife? Her body brutalised and found in the bushes. If he doesn't find his children wouldn't he be better off dead?

And the government? You would wonder if they are seeing all these. They are but they choose to act on things that are of importance to them. For instance, the IGP of police he says it's a communal clash in Benue. But when it was in Adamawa they blamed cattle rustlers. And now I wonder if this is religious inclined. Are we not answered because we are a Christian state?

A peaceful protest was staged in Makurdi the capital of Benue. We have the 72 battalion barracks and an Airforce base in Makurdi. So we don't need a deploy of more troops. In the midst of the protest, some aggrieved youth threw stones at the soldiers. Soldiers shouldn't you have water cannons or tear gas? No ! they chose to rain bullets on innocent,
angry youths. Leaving five people dead!
And you'll ask what is the Benue man to do? We ask ourselves the same questions. I have been having inadequate sleep just to be on the look out for danger. I can't even kill a chicken. I'm even thinking of getting pepper spray. I can't even have the night outings I planned to have this year. My movement? It's minimal. In my own land. Ah! How did we get here? It's inhumane for a man kill another. Why kill women and children? I always felt children and women were left as part of the spoils of war. Is the Benue man to fight for himself? Should we go back to our past glory of being warriors? Is the Benue man expected to pick up arms and also defend himself? Last year the harvest wasn't bountiful because of these same attacks. The federal government turned a blind eye to it. This year, the first week of the year, people's dreams and goals for the year killed with them. We have become fugitives in our own land. Do we go for Arms not Farming tools? Blood basket not Food basket. It is our Benue and we'll fight to restore it's dignity. A Tiv man would say Ka Benue wase, an Idoma man would say Benue ka 'aloh and the Igede man? Benue nya'hi. (all meaning it is our Benue) Instead of running like we did last year we shall fight. The government only sees this as collateral damage so we shall fight tooth and nail.
And to 2019 we have vowed not to hear all the rantings and propaganda of the old men who have failed us. Peace can never be our motto, we have chosen to fight for what is ours.

Pictures gotten from facebook from eye witnesses.