Prominent Nigerians and groups, on Wednesday, condemned the killing of scores of residents of Benue communities by herdsmen on New Year's Day and Tuesday. They demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari must stop the atrocities of the killer herdsmen.
Also, three persons were feared dead among protesters who took to the streets on Wednesday, protesting the mindless killings in the communities. Among those who reacted to the Benue killings are former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; a former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yabubu Dogara; members of the House from Benue State; the National Council of Tiv Youths and two civil rights groups.
Mark lamented the renewed attacks in Benue, Rivers and Kaduna states, describing them as lawlessness that the government must stop. In a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by his Media Assistant, Mr . Paul Mumeh, Mark called for an urgent and strategic approach to halt further tragedies. The lawmaker condemned the attacks on defenceless citizens across the states, saying this pogrom is reprehensible, barbaric and inhuman.
Mark lamented the unabating anarchy across the land, urging security agencies to rise up to the challenge and curb the menace. He also called for a synergy among security operatives to combat the worrisome situation. The senator condoled with the governments and people of Benue, Rivers and Kaduna over the killings, asking them to step up measures needed to protect lives and property.
He said, "No matter the anger in a man's mind, resorting to violence or taking another person's life can only aggravate the situation. There are enough channels of mediation, including the courts and the legislature to address perceived or alleged misdemeanour. "Nobody has a right to take another man's life needlessly. The law must take its course and perpetrators must not go unpunished. This lawlessness must not continue. Security operatives must do the needful to fish out the perpetrators.
In his own reaction, Dogara said he was in shock over the mass killing of children and women in the renewed attacks by herdsmen in Benue State.
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