August 26, (THEWILL) — The United Farmers Association of the Benue Valley (UFABV) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to address the plight of displaced farmers in Nasarawa state in the interest of peace and justice.
The Association said security problems in the Benue Valley are not herders/farmers’ clashes, but are tied to injustice and the Sharia agenda.
President of United Farmers Association of the Benue Valley, Chief Utsa Dennis Gbongbon, made his position known in a statement in Makurdi on Tuesday, arguing that farmers in the region deserve respect and protection.
According to Chief Gbongbon, some desperate traditional rulers and leaders in parts of the country are bent on implementing Sharia policy.
“What is happening in the Benue Valley and middle belt region is that farmers are facing well-planned and calculated genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing and land-grabbing campaigns being launched on farming communities”, he stated.
The UFABV president further alleged that the organised terrorist groups, being the proscribed Lakurawa bandits and suspected herdsmen terrorists mostly migrating from Mali, Niger Republic, and Central Africa, are behind the attacks on communities with the aim of land grabbing.
He said the local leaders, such as traditional rulers in Southern Nasarawa State, are also in collaboration and masterminds behind the problem, alleging that the Nasarawa State Government is often silent on issues of killings, as farmers are forced out of their farmlands.
The invaders, Chief Gbongbon said, allegedly attacked farmers in Nasarawa State, particularly those of the Tiv and Eggon communities, as well as in Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Kogi, Taraba, and Niger states.
The Association, therefore, challenged President Tinubu and Governor AA Sule to ensure the timely safety and return of Tiv farmers to their ancestral homes, allowing them to begin new lives.
It also called on Governor Abdullahi Sule to take care of over 14,000 indigenous Nasarawa farmers currently taking refuge at the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Benue state.
