By our reporter
From Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, came shocking revelations of happenings before and during last weekend’s attack on Yelwata community in Benue State which resulted in the killing of over 200 persons by suspected armed herdsmen.
In some instances, entire families were wiped out during the attack while properties and other items were razed down even as many more persons sustained various degrees of injury.
The attack and similar ones before in the crises-ridden state prompted a visit to the state on Wednesday by President Bola Tinubu, government’s full security machinery in tow too.
At a media briefing at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, the nation’s capital, General Musa disclosed that the assailants received insider assistance ahead of executing their murderous assignment in Yelwata,Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of the North-Central State.
The CDS alleged that certain persons aided the attackers by giving them shelter, food, and even women to make their stay comfortable.
Worse of all, he said, the unnamed local persons revealed the exact location of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Yelwata, where eventually the attackers had a murderous field day.
According to the CDS, security personnel had received intelligence on the planned attacks on many areas in the state and were consequently deployed, pointing out that the information proved to be diversionary because it was Yelwata that ended up being attacked in what he described as a quick hit-and-run strategy.
His words: “These criminals were accommodated by people in the community. They were given food, they were even given women, and guided on where the IDP camp was located. Yet, security forces received no tip-off.”
General Musa said, going forward, President Tinubu has now ordered total mobilization of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police, and the covert agencies, to nab the perpetrators to face the full weight of justice.
He appealed to the public to be alert always and report suspicious activities to security agencies, stressing that security is collective.
The CDS said: “This is why we constantly appeal to communities to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities. Security is a collective duty.”
Acknowledging that the nation’s borders are porous,thus making them easy leeways for all sorts of persons, even killers, from other countries to enter Nigeria, Gen. Musa called on the Federal Government (FG) to quickly address the matter which presently poses huge security risks to Nigerians and the nation.
The defence chief noted that due to the bare nature of the borders, there has been an influx of arms and fighters from Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic, nations witnessing war, thus worsening the situation here.
Tasking Nigeria to borrow a leaf from the Pakistani border model, Gen. Musa pointed to the South Asian nation’s construction of fortified double-layer walls along her border with fundamentalist Afghanistan.
Condoling with victims of the Yelwata bloodfest as well as others, the CDS restated the military’s commitment to its role effectively.
He said: “These killings are heartbreaking. We are fully committed to tracking down those responsible and bringing lasting peace to all corners of Nigeria.”
