Benue IDPs block highway, demand return to ancestral homes

Internally displaced persons in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue state on Friday staged a protest at the Iweto Bridge area, demanding to return to their ancestral homes to resume farming activities ahead of the coming rainy season.

The protesters, who are currently camped around Iweto Bridge, temporarily blocked the Iweto–Abuja road during the demonstration, disrupting vehicular movement before security agencies intervened and the road was later reopened.

Some of the displaced persons said they were farmers who needed to return to their villages to cultivate their lands, lamenting that government support at the camp had reduced.

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“We are farmers and the government is no longer taking care of us as before. The rains are coming and we need to return to our ancestral homes to farm so that we can survive,” one of the protesters said.

Melvin Ejeh, Chairman of Agatu Local Government Area, in a telephone interview with journalists, said the council had procured drones that would soon be deployed to monitor the security situation in the affected communities before displaced persons could safely return.

“We have procured drones which we are ready to deploy to monitor the security situation in the area before they return. Even two days ago we supplied food items to them.We are not against them returning to their homes, but we cannot risk their lives because their ancestral homes may appear calm and we do not know whether they may be attacked again,” Ejeh said.

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He added that security agencies managed the protest professionally without violence.

“The security agencies conducted themselves calmly and no one was hurt. The road has now been opened and the IDPs have returned to the camp. I call on them to remain calm while the government continues to address their plight,” he stated.