That Military Offensive in Benue

The recent military operations in a certain Benue community, which reportedly left over 70 people dead was preventable if the military had been more circumspect in its response to the assault on its men by some irredentists in the community. That the development quickly brough to mind, events in Odi and Zaki Biam, in Bayelsa and Benue States some years ago, made it the more worrisome.

The military had launched a counter attack in the Shangev-Tiev community in Konshisha Local Government Area of the state, days after some of their men had first gone missing before about 11 of them were later reportedly killed, with at least one officer amongst the dead. The soldiers were said to be on a peace mission after crisis broke out between Kanshisha and Oju local governments.

Bad as the action of the communities seemed, the response of the military was worse. First, they’ve not been able to identify the actual culprits in the killings of their men, and thus, the reprisal had only consumed numerous innocent people in the communities, which of course queried their discretion and action.

While the killing of uniformed men at whatever classification is eternally condemnable, clamping down heavily on harmless civilians is worse and despicable. That the Benue people are multiple times unlucky makes their plight pathetic. The action of the military is sad, shameful, pathetic and utterly reprehensible, their excuses notwithstanding.