By Tunde Adetunji, Abuja
The Vanguard Against Tiv Massacre (VATIM) has accused the Federal Government of bias in the way and manner they are handling the security of the country.
It said the recent news of the misunderstanding that evolved on the Mambilla Plateau in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State between some herdsmen and farmers on June 17, which led to the loss of lives and property, adding that the situation in Sardauna seemed particularly different, especially with the physical response of security agencies and officials of the Federal Government.
A statement jointly signed by the Chairman, Ephraim Fater Sarwuan (Esq) and Secretary, Lubem Gena in Abuja Monday said the same sad story that over the last five years being reported from Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Enugu, Edo, Delta and Ondo States, noting that the UNHCR-BENGONET report has it that 19 out of the 36 states have come under attack from herdsmen attacks.
Sarwuan noted that the fundamental issue that was embedded in the action of those in vertical and horizontal position of our security architecture is worrisome, stressing that the incident in Taraba which incidentally is not the first drew a very swift reaction from the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Danbazzau, who led the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Alhassan and other big wigs to Jalingo.
“In VATIM’s deeper review of the effects of the unfortunate skirmish, it is noted that the Fulani herdsmen unusually suffered a greater portion of the impact of the incident, which immediately confirmed our suspicion on the unusually swift response of the Federal Government apparatus.
“It is rather worrisome that government has developed a standard template of causing a release to be made by the press team in the presidency, wherein the crisis is condemned and nothing else is done to assuage the suffering of the innocent people whom the killer herdsmen have brought untold hardship against.
“In such instances, the government is in the habit of not doing anything to prevent a recurrence particularly as we have seen repeatedly in Benue State. In the circumstances of the situation in Taraba state, Fulani incurred most of the damage and we reasonably suspect that, that is why the government had to swiftly move in, it appears,”he said.
