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Grappling with Benue�s flash points:Akume�s experience
Tahav Agerzua
Everyone agrees that peace is vital for the development of any society. But the irony is that conflict is also inevitable to human existence. The credit for good leadership therefore, goes to any leader, who manages conflict in his society so that peace, which is the prerequisite for development, prevails. It is on this note that the Benue State Governor, Mr. George Akume and his experience in grappling with the violence in some areas of the state, are being rated.
The capability of the Akume administration to manage crises was tested early when religious violence in Kaduna claimed close to 100 Benue indigenes and led to mass exodus of the people of Benue origin from that state.
As soon as the situation was brought to the governor's notice, he directed the swift evacuation of those who wanted to leave the trouble spots, including hundreds of students and also provided relief for those affected.
Back in the state, he summoned community and religious leaders to series of meetings, during which he cautioned against reprisals against muslims resident in the state. He maintained that what happened in Kaduna had nothing to do with the people of Benue State. Moreover, through the meetings, a consensus was reached that the bodies of victims should not be brought home for burial as a preventive measure against reprisals. It is gladdening that these measures succeeded in dousing tension and in calming frayed nerves.
Soon after, communal violence of unprecedented nature erupted almost simultaneously against the Tiv ethnic group in Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba states. The implications of this development were frightening. There was a gigantic refugee problem as hundreds of thousands fled into Benue state where majority of indigenes are of the Tiv stock. There was the possibility of reprisals, especially against the Jukuns and the Aragos of Benue State since the main attackers of the Tiv in Nasarawa and Taraba states came from these two ethnic groups. As if these two prospects were not awful enough, the killing of soldiers in Zaki-Biam and the subsequent military invasion of several towns in three local government areas of the state compounded the problems.
To manage the crisis, two relief management committees were established, one for the displaced persons from Nasarawa, and the other for those from Taraba state and an initial sum of N40 million naira was equally shared between the committees. This enabled the committees to set up camps in various locations in the state and to procure various relief materials and medication for distribution to those affected. The creation of the camps also prevented the spread of those displaced to all the nooks and crannies of the state with all the attendant security, health, and social problems. For more than a year, the Benue State government catered for these displaced persons until their eventual return to their states when peace had been restored there.
While the influx of the displaced persons lasted, there were real threats of reprisals within the state. Akume again resorted to consultations, diplomacy and persuasion to protect the Jukuns and the Aragos. At one point, the State Security Council, of which he is the Chairman, imposed a dust to dawn curfew in the state for about one month, in order to check threats to law and order. When hoodlums burnt down a mosque in Gboko so as to ignite crisis in that town, the governor moved swiftly by visiting the town and releasing five million naira for the renovation of the mosque. At each point during the crisis, Governor Akume demonstrated that the solution to the ethnic and religious conflicts in the country lay in the recognition of the rights and privileges of all Nigerians wherever they live. This he demonstrated practically by giving appointments to Jukuns as well as other ethnic groups other than those regarded as not indigenous to the state.
With regard to the unfortunate killing of soldiers in Zaki-Biam, Governor Akume calmed frayed nerves by tendering an unreserved apology to the Federal Government in the national media pledging to use every lawful means to track down the perpetrators of the heinous crime. He also personally attended the burial of the soldiers and contributed half a million naira to the families of each of them. It is unfortunate that in spite of his actions, reprisals and the massacre of defenseless civilians still took place.
Perhaps, one of the greatest contributions made by Governor Akume to peace in the country is his participation in the Kuru Presidential Retreat, where it was resolved that all Nigerians are indigenes wherever they reside and do lawful business. He underscored this decision by the way he handled Jukuns, who had been displaced from the Cameroon where they had lived for more than a decade.
In November 2003, Governor Akume presented relief materials valued at several millions of naira to the Jukun community displaced from the Republic of Cameroon.
He had earlier sent his deputy, Chief Ogiri Ajene, to visit those affected and followed it up by making the presentation personally during a brief ceremony in the ancient town of Abinsi in Guma local government area of the state.
According to reports from the Benue State Emergency Relief Management Agency, the 2060 displaced persons, made up of children, men and women, had migrated from Abinsi to the Cameroon several decades ago and were forced to return as a result of conflict with the Muskon people in that country.
The relief materials included food items, household utensils, drugs and clothes.
During the presentation, Governor Akume lamented that the displacement of persons has become a common phenomenon on the African continent despite the efforts of leaders in the sub-region to form a union.
But more importantly, he assured the displaced persons that they are part and parcel of the Benue community, while urging them to carry out their legitimate business in the state without fear of molestation.
It is with this spirit of accommodation that the Governor has handled the Kwande and other crises in the state.
In February 2003 when supporters of an opposition party, attacked and killed seven supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Jato-Aka, including the father of the Governor's political adviser, who was over 90 years old, Governor Akume, leading the state security council, visited the town promptly. After commiserating with the families of the deceased and inspecting the residences of ten PDP supporters, including that of his Political Adviser, Mr. Orya Korinjo, which were destroyed during the attack, he appealed for calm and restraint assuring that the law would take its course. Thereafter, several suspects were arrested and arraigned in connection with the incident. Their release on bail by the judiciary, which is an independent arm of government, is another matter entirely.
After the governorship and presidential polls in April 2003, supporters of the party attacked and burnt down the residences of more than 20 PDP supporters, including that of the former Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Ason Bur, in Adikpo, headquarters of Kwande local government area. The governor also led the Security Council to inspect the damage. Thereafter, he held a meeting with those affected and appealed for restraint, after which he called a joint meeting of some leaders of the offending opposition party and PDP in Adikpo during which he enjoined the two parties to reconcile with one another and resolve to live in peace. His appeals appeared to have been heeded for a while.
But on March 26, 2004, the eve of the council polls, militia of the opposition party stormed the PDP secretariat in Adikpo, shot and killed four PDP supporters and wounded several others besides burning all the vehicles they found there. The following day, they killed a Benue State Independent Electoral Commission official and a PDP agent. One month later, on April 27 the militia once more embarked on the fourth spate of burnings after a court ruling that they should file an election case before a tribunal set up for that purpose. This time, in addition to houses of prominent PDP stalwarts, they burnt down the houses of the Ter Kwande, Chief James Adzape, the second-class traditional ruler in the area and four of his district heads.
This time, Governor Akume was in Germany for medical treatment and there was a reaction from the community, which led to attacks on the opposition leaders, who had been in the vanguard of attacks on PDP members and traditional rulers and who had supported the take over of revenue collection from the markets by the militia.
As soon as he returned from Germany, the governor stepped up peace efforts, which involved mobilizing the state police command to deploy more regular and mobile police to the area, visits to the area, holding of several meetings with stakeholders from Kwande local government area as well as the setting up of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe the political crises. The Justice Kazeem Alogba Commission of Inquiry has already commenced public hearing. Governor Akume also gave five trucks of fertilizer for free distribution to farmers in the affected area. Two weeks ago, the state government set up a rehabilitation and resettlement committee headed by Dr. Ambrose Liam, a lecturer at the Benue State University.
The governor's efforts, supported by the people of the state, particularly those from the affected area, have yielded bountiful results. Normalcy has been restored completely in Adikpo, headquarters of the local government while peace is also slowly returning to Jato-Aka, where the police have uprooted the last vestiges of the ANPP militia.
It is noteworthy that while Governor Akume is committed to the restoration of peace in the affected areas, some of the leaders of the opposition from the area have openly shunned all peace meetings and expressed distain for all legitimate and constitutional means of conflict resolution. They have chosen rather to stay away from the state and embark of campaigns of calumny against the governor.
�Agerzua is the Chief Press Secretary to Governor George Akume.
Sunday PUNCH August 29, 2004
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The President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
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