Gunmen suspected to be Fulani mercenaries, yesterday burnt 17 deserted Tiv villages in Agaza District of Keana Local Government of Nasarawa State, North-Central Nigeria, where scores of them were killed by operatives of the presidential task force “operation restore peace” barely five days ago.

The militants were said to have invaded the villages belonging to the fleeing Tiv farmers in Agaza district situated on the outskirts of Keana town yesterday evening.

Among the villages burnt down by the attackers were Iwar, Ugbagyer, Tse-Abebe, Ayeraga Ormtswen, Nenpua, Gidan-Aondovihi, Tse-Ankyuwa, all in Agaza district. No life was however lost in the incident as the inhabitants had deserted the areas.

A villager, who claimed to have narrowly escaped from the attackers at Iwar village, said that the marauders, numbering about 100 left a note, vowing that the fleeing Tiv people would never be allowed to return to their homes.

“With the kind of gunshots we heard from the Tiv villages this evening; we are now convinced that the attack was certainly an agenda. It is not the normal Fulani/farmers misunderstanding that usually occurred over destruction of farm crops,” he said.

The district head of Agaza, HRH, and Hussein Oduh who condemned the unprovoked attack, appealed to people of the affected communities not to take the law into their hands as the traditional council, in collaboration with the security agencies were intensifying efforts to ensure quick restoration of peace in the area.

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer of the Nasarawa State Command, ASP Ismaila Nuhu confirmed the attack but said, however, that the attackers were hoodlums who went to burn down a deserted district.

“Yes, there was an attack on one of the deserted districts by hoodlums and there was no casualty,” he declared.

The state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, had declared that there were no insurgents in Keana when he paid a condolence visit to the paramount ruler of Keana chiefdom over the death of the alleged armed Fulani insurgents who were killed in a military operation last week.

Al-Makura insisted that the insurgents were in the forest and the Benue valley but could not mention any of the forests as there is no forest in the state like the Sambisa forest in Borno where insurgents are known to have taken as abode.

However, the legal adviser of the Ombatse prayer group, Zacharia Allumaga, accused the governor of shielding Fulani insurgents while allowing the defenseless Tiv at the mercy of the attackers.

Allumaga added that “by the time the military would clamp down on the insurgents the governor would rush to shield them claiming that they are not insurgents.”

The former magistrate alleged that the governor is trying to turn the state into a terrorist breeding ground despite all the efforts been made by the neighbouring states for peace.

“The last time the military killed these insurgents who were found with sophisticated fire arms, the governor said that they were not insurgents, just to shield them and avoid investigation of any kind in the matter,” Allumaga observed.

Fulani insurgents have in the last four months killed over 200 Tivs with chemical and fire arms in both Nasarawa and Benue states while thousands of them were displaced in several communities.

•Pieced together from reports in Nigerian Pilot and Daily Newswatch. Photo shows Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.