Bashi Atoo and members of his household woke up in August to heavy jackboot steps at their home in Tse-Poor, a rural community in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.Mr Atoo, 50, and his two teenage sons would later be taken to the base of the Tactical Air Command of the NAF in Makurdi.
Mr Atoo’s experience is connected to an old dispute between the Nigerian Air Force and the Tse-Poor community in the Ugondo District of Makurdi, the capital of the largely agrarian Benue State in North-central Nigeria.The air force had established a base in 1977 in Makurdi, taking about 4000 hectares of land. But the community people, who are mostly farmers, resisted the take over of their land without compensation and continued to farm on portions of the land.
However, Mr Udende said the host communities, particularly Tse-Poor, rejected the agreements that were reached after the committee completed its work and was about to submit it to Mr Ortom for implementation. “The court is of the opinion that in view of the above facts, the status quo be maintained pending the determination of the substantive action,” the judge, Sampson Itodo, held in the interlocutory order issued on March 5.
“In a bid to settle the dispute amicably, the Nigerian Air Force agreed to concede 350 hectares of land out of the 4,000 hectares it is currently occupying to the host communities of which 187.802 hectares belongs to Tse-Poor community,” he said.However, Mr Poor said, the military later changed its mind.The NAF demolition team came to Tse-Poor for a two-day exercise on September 22.
“Because of the marshy area of my house, the airmen could not demolish it but they burnt it down,” Mr Gbande said.The carcass of his burnt building stands in a marshy area of Tse-Poor. Children evacuating their parents’ belongings after their homes were demolished by the Nigerian Air Force at Tse-Poor in Makurdi.
“After the demolition of our home, we sought shelter at the R.C.M Primary School. So, I went into commercial motorcycle riding to provide food for my parents and siblings,” he said.Valentine Kaanen and Iorhon Guma said the action of the military has caused a social dislocation of many residents in Ugondo District of Makurdi.“If nothing is done by the government to resettle us, we will be left with no other option than to seek refuge in Internally Displaced Persons camps,” Mr Guma said.
Nigeria... A land of absurdities