Legal practitioners, under the auspices of Association of Idoma Lawyers (Owa Ka’Okepo Ki’Idoma), have called on the United States of America and the State of Israel to extend their military intervention to communities in Benue South Senatorial District due to the incessant killings by terrorists.
The lawyers made the call in a statement jointly signed by their Leader, Chief Godwin Obla, SAN, and President, Dr Joshua Musa, SAN, on Friday and made available to newsmen in Abuja
The group said it condemned in strongest term, the barbaric attack on the peaceful people of Akpa-Otobi Community in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State by persons suspected to be Fulani herders leading to the untimely death of about four persons.
It would be recalled that four persons were alleged to have been killed by suspected armed herdsmen in Akpa-Otobi Community, including Mr Igbabe Ochi, a former House of Assembly candidate for the Otukpo-Akpa State Constituency during the 2019 general election.
The attack was said to have occurred at about 1.30 a.m. on Tuesday, following a failed kidnap attempt in the community on Sunday night.
Reacting, the lawyers said the incessant violent attacks by armed herdsmen on innocent persons in various communities in Otukpo, Ohimini, Apa and Agatu Local Government Areas of Benue State should be of utmost concern to the state and federal authorities.
According to them, security agencies must rise up to the occasion in the same renewed momentum they have taken the fight to these heartless terrorists in other parts of the country.
“The criminal determination by these terrorists to displace the people from their ancestral homes is wicked, dehumanizing and unacceptable.
“Crops and economic trees worth hundreds of millions of naira are being destroyed by armed terrorists and the innocent people are watching helplessly as they lack the capacity to confront the violent criminals.
“The constitutional rights of our people to their property in the farmlands under serial attacks are being destroyed unabated as if the constitution does not apply to Idoma Land any longer.
“The right to own property is a constitutional right guaranteed by Section 43 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
“The economic and socio-cultural lives of the people have been diminished to nothing and their right to life is not respected by the armed herdsmen and, sadly, not protected by the state,” the said.
According to the legal practitioners, this is most unfortunate.
The group said the laws of all civilised nations protect lives and property of their citizens and strictly punish criminals who violate such laws.
“Nigeria having portrayed itself as a civilised nation must, as a matter of urgency, stand firmly and enforce the constitution and other penal laws including security policies to defend Idoma land and its peaceful and law-abiding people.
“The brutal and senseless attacks must stop.
“Our people have been pushed to the wall and if help does not come from any quarter, they will be compelled to resort to self defence with sticks and stones,” they said.
The lawyers stated that the losses incurred by the people living and farming in Benue South Senatorial District (Zone C) is monumental.
They, therefore, called on the relevant agencies of the Federal Government to embark on assessment of the losses and adequately compensate the victims to assuage the untold hardship being suffered by them.
“We are aware that the military intervention by the United States of America has brought relief to several communities in the Northwest and Northeast regions of Nigeria.
“We are also aware that the State of Israel has volunteered to intervene in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria to stem the tides of the menace.
“Be it known to all including the international community that the scourge of mindless killings by the terrorists started in Agatu where tens of thousands of innocent citizens have lost their lives without adequate media coverage.
“Till date, no community in Nigeria has suffered what the Idoma people in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State have been subjected to by the terrorists.
“They have encountered all forms of criminal activities ranging from killings, rape, arson, poisoning of streams to deny them access to potable water and destruction of aquatic lives to physical destruction of crops and economic trees.
“These inhuman and dastardly acts of the terrorists in Agatu have always been under reported.
“We are calling on the United States of America and the State of Israel to extend their military intervention to Benue South Senatorial District to secure our land, protect lives and property and help to guarantee the dignity of the human person.
“This has become inevitable as we cannot explain the obvious neglect from government at federal and state levels.
“WE HAVE A RIGHT TO LIFE as guaranteed by Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Our lives matter,” they concluded.