PRESS RELEASE

 Mark visits war-ravaged Benue community
    laments monumental carnage as FG set up committee

President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has lamented over the level of devastation and killings at the war ravaged Egba community in Agatu local government  area of Benue state invaded by armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

 Senator Mark who was on the spot assessment of the wreckage  today, expressed shock and sadness over the rate of damage he likened to genocide .

 He said the action of the perpetrators was nothing but absolute criminality which must be addressed as such.

 An angry Mark stated : " This is absolute criminality. All those involved in this barbaric killings must not go unpunished. Government will not tolerate this and all the security networks would be deployed to fish out the perpetrators."

 Mark told his  heart broken constituents that the National Security council has met over the incident and hinted that  President Goodluck JONATHAN is already putting measures in place to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the killings,with a view to finding a lasting solution to it.

 He therefore counseled the people to continue to maintain peace, as government has enough apparatus to deal with the situation in a way that would bring justice to all concerned.

 Senator Mark added that security has been beefed up to forestall a repeat of the ugly incident.

 He commended the emergency  medical team  led by Oyaji Suleiman assisting the injured and undertook to pay the medical bills.

 It was a sorry sight when Senator Mark visited the make- shift tent housing some injured survivors of the attack as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) .

 He later visited the site where the murdered persons were said to have been given a mass burial.

 The Benue State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Deputy Governorship candidate, Mr. John Ngbede who hails from the war- ravaged community pleaded with the Federal Government to police  the boundary between them and their Nasarawa State neighbours.

 Ngbede  lamented that the porous boundary between the Agatu and Nasarawa state was giving the invaders unhindered assess to attack them and easily find escape route.

 "If there is anything the Federal government can do for us at this critical time, it is to help us police  and protect our boundary with Nasarawa state," he stressed.

 No fewer than 80 persons were murdered in cold blood when invaders suspected to be Fulani herdsmen stormed Egba  community in Agatu local government area of Benue state in the wee hours of last Sunday..

 The invaders were  said to have escaped to neighbouring  Nasarawa state across the River Benue after the attack.

 Signed:
 Paul Mumeh.
 Chief Press Secretary to the President of the Senate.