From John Adams, Minna
Worried by the spate of killings and kidnappings in parts of Benue State, the youth association under the auspices of Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) has threatened to embark on a mass protest in the state to demand an end to the wave of killings and abductions of innocent citizens across the state.
The youths said the situation is gradually pushing the people to where they will have no option but to resort to self-defence, since it appears that the government is helpless and can no longer protect the people.
EYA, in a statement by the National President, Alhaji Lucky Itodo, on Monday to condemn the Sunday evening attack on the state-owned transport authority, Benue Links, by suspected kidnappers along the Otukpo-Otukpa highway in Okpokwu Local Government Area, where all 18 passengers were robbed and whisked away by their attackers, said the government is losing grip on the security challenges.
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“The security situation in parts of Benue State has deteriorated so fast that no place is safe for the people. It is either they (gunmen) follow you to the house or wait for you on the highway to be kidnapped.
“We will no longer fold our hands and watch our people being wiped out or forced into abject poverty through ransom payments with no help coming from the government,” the statement added.
According to him, it is an understatement to say that the entire state is currently under siege from gunmen as blood continues to flow freely and millions are paid by families of kidnapped victims to secure the release of their loved ones from kidnappers.
He pointed out that kidnappers have found a safe haven in Otukpo and other parts of Benue South, where they kidnap, rape, and kill the people without resistance from any quarter, warning that “we have seen enough of these criminalities and we can’t take it any longer.”
The association recalled that this year alone, there have been well over 100 reported cases of kidnapping across the state, while hundreds of innocent Benue citizens have been gruesomely murdered by invaders suspected to be herdsmen.
The youth association expressed regret that, from all indications, the people seem to have been abandoned by their political leaders and “are now living like sheep without a shepherd,” adding that the political leadership in the state must wake up to its responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of the people.
While calling on security agents to immediately rescue the victims of the Sunday evening kidnapping along the Otukpo-Otukpa highway unhurt, the youth association urged local vigilantes in the area to brace up for the challenges posed by “these enemies of the people.”
Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after the abduction of the Benue Links passengers, the abductors are yet to make contact with the families of the victims, even as security agents, in collaboration with locals, were said to be still combing the bush for their possible rescue.
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