Paul Iorpuu Unongo, Tiv’s spiritual leader, during the mass burial of the 75 persons recently killed by rampaging herdsmen, gave the Federal Government two weeks ultimatum to end the killings in Benue State, threatening that indigenes of the state would raise an army of million persons to defend themselves. In his words…
“Benue people sacrificed blood for the unity of this country and 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 mobilise and train our people into an army to defend us. We are 100 per cent in support of what Governor Samuel Ortom has done. I am the spiritual and ancestral leader of the Tiv nation; enough is enough. If the Federal Government cannot stop or arrest those behind the killings; in two weeks, we shall raise an army of our own. We cannot allow people to colonise us again, we have all it takes to do that,” Unongo said
Among those that were buried were four-year-old Terkaa and Mrs Sarah who was slain in her eight months of pregnancy.