In a recent conversation with a native of Gwer East, a predominantly agrarian council area in Benue State, Mr. Edmond, who resides in Dopemu area of Lagos, he gave a chilling account of what has become the once agriculturally-thriving local government areas. 

“This year, my cousin lost two of his children to Fulani herdsmen. They came in the middle of the night and attacked them. 

“When his door was forced open, he said they opened fire on them and when they left, all of the household were hit by the bullets but his two children died while his wife and the last born who was fortunate to have only a scratch survived.” 

The story of Edmond has continued to echo all over Benue State. Last month in the neighboring Gwer West, a three-day attack by herders left more than 20 villagers dead. 

The attacks occurred in three villages between Friday and Sunday, and the chairman of Gwer West Local Government Area, Ormin Torsar Victor, while speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP), said no less than 20 people were killed at Aondana Village on Sunday, and more than 10 others died in another village. 

While the attack by Fulani herders in Benue is legendary, it has assumed a threatening dimension in recent times. From Guma Local Government Area to Ukum, down to Gwer East and Gwer West, as well as other council areas, it has been a similar story of near or complete genocidal attacks on the people of the state. 

While there have been contrasting reviews on the reasons for the attacks, with the military high command, last month, reportedly saying that the mayhem could be a reprisal, the nature, modus operandi and timing of the invasions on helpless villagers smacks of genocide and an orchestrated intent on wiping out an entire race. 

However, the recent attack last week which left more than two hundred persons dead in Yelewata Community, Guma Local Government Area of the state, has exposed the extent of vulnerability of the people of the state, and the insensitivity of the government to effectively protect the very people it swore to hold safe. 

Sources report that the terrorists, last week, initially targeted the Yelewata mission site, which shelters over 400 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), at approximately 10pm on 13 June, but were repelled by military personnel. 

The assailants subsequently attacked the Yelewata Main Market, setting buildings on fire and mutilating and burning the bodies of victims, some of whom were trapped in their homes. 

Citing the age long attacks on the people of Benue from Fulani herders and desiring stoppage, in 2017, the then governor of the state, Chief Samuel Ortom, took a bold step to sign the state Anti-Open Grazing Law. 

The law, which prohibited open grazing and mandated ranching, was a direct response to the destruction of farmlands, killings, and mass displacements that had plagued Benue for years. 

“It may not have been a perfect law though but it greatly curtailed the movement of herders and we witnessed relative peace,” Edmond further told our correspondent. 

Terver Akase, the Chief Press Secretary to former Governor Ortom, while in a chat with our correspondent, said the law was signed by the former governor to curb the activities of the pastoralists, saying the law did well to reduce the killings even as he admitted that due largely to increase in population with attendant unavailability of lands, it was still a challenge to effectively stop the herders from seeking for lands. 

However, the anti-open grazing law didn’t come without opposition as the then governor came under constant criticisms from the Federal Government and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who sought to undermine the efforts of Ortom. 

For instance, the APC in Benue then led by Austin Agada held a press conference where he alleged that the anti-open grazing law was responsible for the upsurge in the killings then, accusing the then governor that he allowed for cow rustling. 

A press statement he issued, Agada then said; “We the undersigned leaders of APC are constrained to once again bring to the attention of Nigerians, the increased wave of killings of innocent citizens of Benue State especially the people of Ihyarev extraction and appeal to both Governor Ortom and the Fulani militia to tread the path of peace and refrain from all activities that have led to the escalation of security breaches in the aforementioned Local Government Areas. 

“This appeal has become necessary in the light of the renewed rustling of cows by Governor Ortom’s Livestock Guards and Community Volunteer Guards under the guise of enforcing the Open Grazing Prohibition Law on the one hand and the Fulani militia’s counter-attacks against our innocent people who have no links with either rustling of cows or the so-called enforcement of the law.” 

Meanwhile, while he has continually denied ever repealing the law on assumption of office, a source within the Benue State government corridor told our correspondent that one of the actions of the Governor Hyacinth Alia-led government was to repeal the anti-open grazing law. 

 “The governor actually stopped implementation of the law when he came on board,” the source told our correspondent. 

“It was all about politics and nothing more than that. You know while in the opposition, he criticised Governor Samuel Ortom and even blamed him for the killings. 

“Have you asked yourself why there are much higher numbers of killings since the governor came in than before? 

The source, a one-time journalist who craved anonymity, said while it was not pronounced, the current administration stopped overseeing the welfare of the livestock guards which ultimately led to the resurgence in open grazing. 

“Basically, he thought he could do it differently and achieve greater results but I think he knows better now because the forest guys (livestock guards) stopped because their welfare was no more priority and the Fulani herdsmen returned full time.” 

In what looks like a confirmation of how politics had been brought to bear on the escalating insecurity in Benue, Governor Alia, in a statement during an event in Gwer East last year, accused his predecessor, Ortom, of inciting the violence, while responding to the former governor’s lamentation over the upsurge in the killings. 

“There is no need for you to cry wolf when you are complicit in the violence,” he referred to Ortom. 

Alia continued; “Inciting the youth and allowing cattle rustling only leads to reprisals and loss of lives. Ortom cashed in on the violence, benefiting politically while people were buried every day.” 

Ortom, however, refuted the allegations, calling them unfounded. He highlighted that he was the first governor in Nigeria to enact a law banning open grazing and promoting ranching as a sustainable practice. He asserted that during his tenure, Benue youths never engaged in cattle rustling or violence against their own people. 

Ortom’s statement emphasised, “These allegations are disturbing and without proof. As governor, I took bold steps to confront armed herdsmen attacks, which predated my administration. I enacted laws to end open grazing and introduced ranching.” 

Those accusations and counter accusations came amidst rumours that the governor was already repealing the Anti-Open Grazing Law. 

To lend credence to this, last year, a group, Defenders of Democracy, raised the alarm over an alleged plan by Alia to repeal the State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranch Establishment Law of 2017, known as the Anti-Open Grazing Law. 

The group alleged that the part meant to repeal the law was smuggled into the “Benue State Civil Protection Guards (Establishment) Law 2024” after deliberations at some public hearings on a law they intended to establish as a replacement. 

This was made known by the group’s president, Amos Uchir, who also appealed to traditional rulers, civil society groups, and all other lovers of Benue State to rise up and resist the move to repeal the law, describing it as an agenda to give Fulani herders a soft landing in Benue State. 

Our correspondent gathered that under the present administration in the state, Fulani 

Herders face fewer restrictions in their movements and grazing activities, potentially leading to conflicts with farmers. 

“Unlike before, they move with impunity and face little or no restriction because the livestock guards are no more,” a health worker in Benue who preferred anonymity told our correspondent. 

“I can tell you for sure that the law has been stopped although the governor said it has not. We used to see restrictions before but that is no more and the people are the ones suffering from it,” she said. 

As a result of the vulnerability of the people of Benue and the escalation in the attacks, a group, Benue Advocacy Network (BAN), in April, challenged the governor to “explain what has happened to the State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017, and why herders are taking over more communities in the state without any action from his government to stop them.” 

Addressing the media in Makurdi then, their president, Enoch Ortese, knocked the governor over so many begging questions amid the people’s distraught and consistent attacks on innocent farmers in the villages. 

The group lamented that the present administration had failed to build on the gains recorded by the immediate past administration to safeguard Benue communities from the menace of armed herdsmen who it claimed had taken over various communities in the state unrestrained. 

According to a popular Benue-born content creator and social media influencer, Tivta Samuel Aondohemba, the present governor is inconsistent with the current situation in the state. 

“Alia has also repeatedly contradicted himself. In one breath, he describes the attackers as land-grabbers; in another, he defends them as foreign ECOWAS nationals with legitimate rights to move freely. 

“Still, he refuses to respond to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who openly blamed his refusal to enforce anti-open grazing laws for the worsening Fulani militia attacks in Benue and surrounding areas,” he said in his social media platform. 

However, in what is open admission of the place of the law in checking the movements of the herders, Governor Alia, recently, urged the Federal Government to come up with a well-backed up legislation to ban open grazing. This is as he failed to make reference to the one hitherto existing in the state. 

According to analysts, the latest step, although in the right direction, is amounting to eating the proverbial humble pie. 

Also, DAILY INDEPENDENT gathered from a source that the governor actually approached the state legislature for full implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Law, hitherto abandoned for supposedly political reasons. 

“He actually wants it implemented now, from whichever source,” DAILY INDEPENDENT was reliably told by the same source close to the seat of power in Makurdi. 

“The governor is under intense pressure from prominent sons of the state to fully go full throttle in the implementation of the law.” 

Two months ago while speaking during the First Benue Livestock Summit, Alia said; “1 wish to reaffirm our administration’s commitment to the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law 2017 (as amended). 

“It is my hope that the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development will take the lead in national legislative reforms to prohibit open grazing and promote ranch establishment nationwide.” 

To residents of Benue, this is a right step which should have been in place a long time ago. 

A Benue native, Dr. Fidelis Odokpa, while speaking to Daily Independent, accused the governor of insincerity, saying if he is sincere, he should follow in the footsteps of former Governor Ortom with the old law. 

“We have a law in place already, why seeking Federal legislation for a new one,” he asked. 

“He is not sincere and he is still playing politics with the lives of the people, otherwise, why can’t the governor continue with the one started by the last administration? 

“There may be room for amendments but I think the last 

To Okwoli Aondoana, another Benue native living in Lagos, the approach by the governor is right. 

“If he desires for a Federal legislation to start protecting Benue people from Fulani herders, he should speed up action on this,” he told our correspondent. 

However, the Benue State House of Assembly has urged the governor to go full scale in implementing the Anti-Open Grazing Law. 

This followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by the member representing Guma 1 State Constituency, Terwase Uche, during plenary on Tuesday. 

Uche officially informed the House of the wanton destruction of property by armed herders in Yelwata, Guma Local Council. 

The House consequently called on Governor Alia to ensure full implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches (Establishment) Law, 2017, to end the killing of innocent people by armed herders in the state. 

It would be recalled that Governor Alia set the tone for what to expect of the Anti-Open Grazing Law during his inaugural speech in Makurdi in 2023. 

While speaking to the mammoth crowd to herald the birth of a new administration, Alia described the implementation of the law as ‘controversial’ and added that his government would review the law to accommodate current realities. 

“We are inheriting an anti-open grazing law whose implementation has become controversial. 

“Having gone through some period of implementation, it is fit and proper for us to review the law to identify the lessons learnt, hold the gains made if any, and reform to accommodate current realities,” Alia had said. 

The attack last week, meanwhile, has continued to elicit reactions from Nigerians. 

While advancing a solution to the menace, Babatunde Gbadamosi, a former governorship candidate in Lagos State, stirred widespread controversy with a tweet urging Benue residents to abandon peaceful protests and instead take up arms against Fulani Muslim terrorists. 

While reacting to youths protesting the ongoing killings in Benue, Gbadamosi dismissed the demonstrations as ineffective and called for violent retaliation. 

In his post shared on X Gbadamosi wrote: “A stupid waste of energy. If you really want to stop the killings, get guns, poison, acid, bows and arrows. Start hunting them at night for one month. Don’t wait for Tinubu, he doesn’t care.”