David Mark
Senate President, Chief David Mark, has bemoaned the level of devastation and killings wrecked on the people of Egba community in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State when armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded the area.
Senator Mark, who was at the war-ravaged Egba on Thursday for an on-the-spot assessment of the damages done, expressed shock and sadness over the rate of ruination which he likened to genocide. He stressed that the action of the perpetrators was nothing but absolute criminality which must be addressed as such.
An angry Mark said, “This is absolute criminality. All those involved in these barbaric killings must not go unpunished. Government will not tolerate this and all the security networks would be deployed to fish out the perpetrators.”
The Senate President, while consoling the heart-broken members of his constituents, informed them that the National Security Council has met over the incident and that President Goodluck Jonathan was already putting measures in place to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the killings, so as to find a lasting solution to it.
He consequently urged the people to continue to maintain peace, as government has enough apparatus to deal with the situation in a way that would bring justice to all concerned. This was as he pointed out that security has been beefed up to forestall a repeat of the ugly incident.
The National Assembly Chairman, while appreciating the emergency medical team led by Oyaji Suleiman for assisting the injured, promised to pay their medical bills.
It was a sorry sight when Senator Mark visited the make-shift tent housing some injured survivors of the attack as well as internally displaced persons, IDPs. He also made it to the site where the murdered persons were said to have been given a mass burial.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, deputy governorship candidate in the state, Mr. John Ngbede, who hails from the affected community pleaded with the Federal Government to police the boundary between his people and their Nasarawa State neighbours.
This was as he lamented that the porous nature of the boundary between Agatu and Nasarawa State has given the invaders unhindered access to attack the people and easily find escape route.
“If there is anything the Federal government can do for us at this critical time, it is to help us police and protect our boundary with Nasarawa state,” he stressed.
DAILY POST recalls that no fewer than 80 persons were murdered in cold blood when assailants believed to be Fulani herdsmen invaded Egba community in Agatu LGA of Benue State in the wee hours of last Sunday, unleashing mayhem on their victims.
The invaders were reported to have retreated to a neighbouring Nasarawa State, across the River Benue after the attack.
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