By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
The Kogi State House of Assembly has called for the immediate disbandment of a hybrid vigilante group comprising Fulani herders in Lokoja Local Government Area following the killing of 12 people in Kupa community.
The Assembly also urged the state government to dismantle all existing vigilante structures in Kupa, recover firearms in their possession, and deploy Forest Guards to the area to prevent further bloodshed.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a matter of urgent public importance raised by the Speaker and member representing Lokoja II Constituency, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Umar Yusuf, during Tuesday’s plenary in Lokoja.
Yusuf described the killings as an “inhuman” attack on innocent residents, saying the latest violence erupted following a confrontation between the Kupa Community Vigilante Group and a hybrid vigilante group associated with Fulani herders.
According to him, the violence spread across Eguchidan, Emiku and Abugi communities, leaving 12 people dead and several others injured.
Among those wounded was the Chief Imam of Kupa, Alhaji Gimba Aliyu, who sustained gunshot injuries and was receiving treatment in a health facility.
Yusuf said the immediate trigger of the crisis was an altercation between members of the two vigilante groups around Abugi, headquarters of Kupa Kingdom and location of the community’s major Thursday market.
He said a member of the Fulani vigilante group reportedly died from gunshot wounds sustained during the confrontation, after which armed men were allegedly mobilised to Eguchidan in what appeared to be a reprisal attack.
The ensuing violence, he said, resulted in three deaths in Eguchidan, six in Emiku and two in Abugi, in addition to the death of the Fulani vigilante member whose killing allegedly triggered the reprisal.
The Speaker warned that continued killings and the proliferation or unprofessional use of firearms could worsen tensions between communities and herders and plunge the area into a more devastating conflict.
He described the Kupa incident as the third major violent attack recorded in the area, recalling the Ekpan-Abugi invasion of November 2014 and the Gugurugi massacre of January 2015, which he said had inflicted serious socio-economic damage on residents.
Yusuf urged the authorities to take urgent and strategic measures to prevent another cycle of violence.
In its resolutions, the Assembly called for the immediate disbandment of the hybrid vigilante group operating in Lokoja LGA and urged the authorities to recover all arms and ammunition in the possession of vigilante groups operating in Kupa.
The lawmakers also appealed to the National Security Adviser to take steps towards dismantling the hybrid Fulani vigilante structure.
The state government was further urged to deploy Forest Guards to Kupa and consider recruiting trusted indigenes familiar with the terrain to strengthen community-based security and intelligence gathering.
The Assembly also directed the Kogi State Commissioner of Police to deploy additional personnel to the Abugi Divisional Police Headquarters.
The lawmakers commended Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo for what they described as his prompt response to the crisis.
Yusuf said the governor directed the immediate deployment of personnel from various security agencies to the affected communities, helping to restore relative peace and order.
The Assembly consequently commended the governor, the Commandant, Army Records, Chari Maigumeri Barracks, Lokoja, and the Kogi State Commissioner of Police for their swift response.
Supporting the motion, Major Enefola (APC, Igalamela/Odolu) seconded it, while Jibril Abu (APC, Ajaokuta) condemned the killings as “wickedness of the wicked” that should not be allowed to destroy or depopulate the affected communities.
Abu called for a change in security strategy, arguing that repeatedly applying the same approach to insecurity would not produce different results.
“Doing the same thing the same way all the time will not produce different results,” he said.
He also advocated the empowerment of local vigilante groups operating within the law, arguing that residents familiar with the terrain could provide valuable intelligence to security agencies.
The Speaker Pro-Tempore and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Comfort Nwuchiola Ojoma Egwaba, thanked the state government and security agencies for their intervention and urged them to sustain efforts to prevent a recurrence of the violence.