We Would Raise An Army If The FG Cannot Protect Benue People – Unongo

A prominent leader of the Tiv nation and chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Wantaregh Paul Unongo has said that the Benue people would raise an army if President Muhammadu Buhari fails in his responsibility of protecting the lives and property of its citizens in the state.

He stated this on Thursday while speaking at the IBB Square in Makurdi, the state capital at the mass burial held for the 73 victims killed by Fulani herdsmen on January 1 and 2, 2018.

Unongo recalled that a large number of Benue sons and daughters were among the contingent that fought for the unity of Nigeria during the civil war, adding that he and the entire Benue people were waiting on the Federal Government to take drastic steps to urgently address the killings.

“Benue people sacrificed blood for the unity of this country and we will not allow a section of Fulani herdsmen to kill our people in cold blood. I am telling Nigerians that my people cannot continue to be cannon fodder for this country.

“If the government can’t protect us, we will mobilize and train our people into an army to defend us. We are 100 percent in support of what Governor Samuel Ortom has done. I am the spiritual and ancestral leader of the Tiv nation, enough is enough,” Unongo said.

He continued: “If he Federal Government cannot stop or arrest those behind the killing, in two weeks, we shall raise an army of our own. We cannot allow people to colonize us again, we have all it takes to do that.”