Some elders from Benue State have urged President Bola Tinubu’s government to bring peace by declaring a state of emergency in Sankera, Benue State, following recent violence in the area.
Iyorwuese Hagher, the president of the African Leadership Institute, Dayton, Ohio, United States, made the call at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.
Mr Hagher, who spoke on behalf of the group, urged the federal government to deploy sufficient, rights-respecting security forces to take control of the area.
He also said the government should establish an independent judicial peace and reconciliation commission to investigate the root causes, document atrocities to ensure accountability, and provide a framework for retributive and restorative justice.
“The federal government should ensure the safe return of all internally displaced Sankera people to their ancestral homes and protect their lives from bandits and terrorists.
“The government should secure the large ungoverned space between Kasar and Agu-centre by establishing a robust army battalion in Kasar.
“It should organise a large-scale resettlement scheme in Sankera by establishing new modern towns with modern amenities, such as schools, hospitals, and police stations,” he said.
Mr Hagher, however, commended Mr Tinubu’s administration for partnering with the United States government to bring succour to victims of terrorism.
He also called on the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to conduct an independent fact-finding mission to determine the cause of the Sankera crisis.
He called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to urgently review the situation of crisis in Benue State, especially in Sankera.
Mr Hagher urged international humanitarian agencies to scale up assistance for internally displaced persons and host communities.
“Official silence and denial of the Sankera crisis have deepened the wounds. Inadequate documentation has obscured the scale of the suffering, and political hesitation has prolonged it,” he said.
He said that over one million people had been displaced across Benue State.
“They are Gwer West, Gwer East, Guma, and Agatu. The devastation in Kwande Local Government is a separate chapter of terror,” he said.
Mr Hagher said that the border communities of Abande and Anwase, near the Cameroon border, had also been occupied by armed bandits.
He said hundreds of thousands now lived in the camp of internally displaced persons (IDPs) or precarious host communities.
“As a result of the ongoing crisis, UNICEF has reported alarming levels of malnutrition and stunted growth among children.
“This has brought almost all the schools and health facilities in Sankera to be closed for nearly a decade,” Mr Hagher said.
(NAN)