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50 Killed in Jato-Aka, 2,000 Flee

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
May 20, 2004
Posted to the web May 20, 2004

By Godwin Akor
Makurdi
OVER 50 persons were killed in Jato-Aka, home town of the Second Republic
Minister of Iron and Steel, Mr Paul Unongo, on Sunday while about 2000
inhabitants fled the area as the militia group that suffered severe casualties
in the hands of a vigilance group, two weeks ago, struck at about 9:00 pm.
The same militia group had overrun Adikpo, the headquarters of Kwande local
government three weeks ago with the residents fleeing the town for fear of
being killed.
When the militia group believed to be staying in the house of a retired army
officer attempted to capture Jato-Aka two weeks ago, 20 of the members were
killed in an ambush close to a bridge in that place.
Vanguard gathered from one Mr Iorbee Yaiko who escaped from the bullets of the
militiamen that "for seven hours, people were being killed along with the
burning of houses."
He said those killed included old men and women who could not escape during the
operation which was carried out in a commando manner.
Yaiko also said almost all the members of the vigilance group that waylaid the
militia men about two weeks ago and killed over 20 of them were massacred
during the Sunday mayhem at Jato-Aka.
According to him, many of those that escaped into the bush suffered severe
injuries as grenades were thrown at them.
Speaking on the mayhem in Kwande, the Police Commissioner, Mr Johnson
Uzuegbunam said intelligence reports confirmed that some people were killed in
Jato-Aka.
The Police Commissioner also said when his men took armoured personnel carriers
(APC) to Jato-Aka, the militia were throwing hand grenades at them. From there,
he added, the police started wondering how they came about grenades.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Bode Fakeye, on his part, said
the sophisticated weapons used by the militia men overwhelmed that of the
police at Adikpo and Jato-Aka.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Security Council has set up three Judicial
Commissions of inquiry on the crises at Otukpo, Makurdi and Kwande local
governments. The problem in Kwande started during the 2003 general elections
but it subsided and began again during the local government elections of March
27.
The leaderships of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have been trading blames on the crisis in
Kwande which has made political bigwigs in the area to leave their homes.
The crisis has also led to the sacking of the interim local government
administration in Kwande while schools have remained closed for more than three
weeks now.

   

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