| WAR Of words: Akume
vs Unongo on Benue killings
By WAHEED ODUSILE
Monday, July 5, 2004
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• Unongo
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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The seemingly unending political killings in Kwande Local
Government area of Benue State has degenerated into a war
of words between the state Governor George Akume and main
opposition leader, Dr. Paul Unongo.
While Unongo, the governorship candidate of the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP) in the 2003 general elections blames
Governor Akume and Internal Affairs Minister, Dr. Iyorchia
Ayu for the mayhem that has paralysed activities in two of
the four districts in Kwande local government area, both the
governor and the minister say nobody, apart from Unongo is
responsible for the killings.
In separate interviews with Daily Sun in Makurdi, both parties
traced the genesis of the bloodletting to the battle for political
control of Kwande local government, one of the 23 councils
in the state.
While Unongo accuses Governor Akume and Dr. Ayu of forming,
funding and arming a private army called Tiv Defence Corps
under the leadership of a retired army officer, Colonel Basil
Kwembeh, the governor and the minister in turn accuse Unongo
of fomenting violence and promoting killings through a militia
he founded some two years ago, when he announced his intention
to vie for the governorship of Benue State.
A one week investigation by Daily Sun in Benue State, also
shows a sharp division among the political elites in the state
as to the cause of the crisis and the solution, with both
sides pointing fingers at each other.
Unongo told Daily Sun at his home in Makurdi that his alleged
pro government Tiv Defence Corps, which nobody who later spoke
with Daily Sun apart from Unongo, agreed existed, had destroyed
his businesses, ranging from clinics and hotels, his home,
the tomb of his parents who were exhumed and burnt, as well
as properties of many ANPP supporters, in Jato Aka, Adikpo
and other places in Kwande local government area.
The destruction, he said, was visited on him because as the
main opposition leader, he pricks the conscience of the government
and the PDP leadership in the state, as well as preventing
them from taking control of Kwande local government which
his party, ANPP, claims to have won in the last local government
election.
But to Governor Akume and Dr. Ayu, all what Unongo has been
saying about the crisis are tissues of lies. The ANPP leader,
they say, is a master of political violence which he has been
inflicting on the people of Benue State since he joined politics
in 1978.
"This man knows nothing but violence," Akume told
Daily Sun in Makurdi. "He has promised to unleash terror
and violence on the people if he fails in his bid to become
governor of the state in 2003. He has a militia which he formed
for this purpose. Since he joined politics, he has never won
an election. Each time he came forward to contest election,
he lost and violence followed. The times he did not contest
any election, we had peaceful election in Benue State."
He denied forming or funding any militia, saying "what
for. To fight who?" I don’t have a need for a militia.
Unongo has a need for one. As the chief security officer of
the state, I know my responsibilities under the constitution.
The police and other security agencies are there to help the
governor maintain law and order in the state. I don’t
have a need for militia. It is Unongo who has a need for one,"
the governor said.
Apart from Governor Akume and Dr. Ayu, Daily Sun also spoke
with retired Colonel Kwembe, whom Unongo accused of training
and heading the Tiv Defence Corps.
According to him, the Tiv Defence Corps probably exists in
the imagination of Unongo, who he also accused of having a
militia made up of ANPP youths who have been terrorising the
people of Kwande, particularly PDP supporters, many of whom
have been killed and their properties destroyed.
As the only retired army officer in the PDP out of the three
retired colonels in Kwande local government, each time there
were talks of a PDP militia, his name was always mentioned.
He declared: "I knew nothing about any militia in PDP.
I knew nothing about any Tiv Defence Corps," adding:
"I will be a fool, if I have all these things (militia
and ammunition) and yet allow my people, PDP supporters to
be killed and their properties destroyed."
The state secretary of the PDP, Hon. Samuel Orton, who also
spoke with Daily Sun traced the violence in Kwande to Paul
Unongo’s ambition to remain relevant in the politics
of the area, "even when the people had clearly rejected
him and his violence-prone leadership style."
At the height of the crisis, the Senate sent a fact finding
team to the troubled area and its report released last week,
completely exonerated Governor Akume of any complicity in
the killings. It however heavily indicted Paul Unongo, Dr.
Ayu and Colonel Kwembeh. The Internal Affairs Minister has,
however, denied having a hand in the crisis.
A Judicial Commission of Enquiry has also been set up by the
state government to look into the crisis, but the main opposition
party, the ANPP has vowed not to appear before it, accusing
it of bias in favour of the PDP. The only ANPP senator in
the state, who is also from the senatorial zone comprising
Kwande, Senator Saror has also kicked against the composition
of the commission.
Below are text of interviews with the combatants in the Benue
crisis.
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