The Universal Reformed Christian Church, popularly known as NKST, has revealed that 5,987 of its members had been killed and 753 worship centres destroyed in attacks by armed herdsmen in Benue and neighbouring states.
NKST disclosed this in a statement by the General Secretary of its Synod Executive Committee, Rev. Ta Targba, rejecting the President Bola Tinubu government’s proposed pilot ranching programme in Benue State.
The church rather admonished the government to prioritise the return and resettlement of displaced communities before taking indigenous lands belonging to the same people for ranching.
It stated that the government should support the reconstruction of homes, schools, healthcare centres, markets, roads, water facilities and churches destroyed during attacks.
According to Targba, NKST is not opposed to peaceful livestock farming or efforts by the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the recurring conflict between farmers and herders, but frowned at selecting Benue as a pilot state for a ranching programme.
He said it is unacceptable, taking into account the scale of killings, displacement and destruction suffered by communities in the state.
“Benue is not merely a geographical space available for government experimentation. The state is predominantly an agrarian society. Its land is the ancestral inheritance, economic foundation and livelihood of millions of people,” Targba said.
He added that no ranch should be established on land belonging to communities whose inhabitants had been violently displaced.
He said generations of Benue people had cultivated their ancestral lands and built homes, churches, schools, hospitals, markets and other institutions on them.
Targba questioned the decision to consider Benue for the pilot scheme after years of violence that had forced residents out of several communities.
“The NKST Church therefore asks: Why should a state whose people have suffered displacement and destruction because of violent conflict now be selected as a laboratory for a policy involving land allocation for the same livestock economy that has been at the centre of these conflicts?
“The answer cannot be merely administrative. The people of Benue deserve to be heard,” he said.
The NKST General Secretary said the church’s opposition was informed by the impact of the prolonged security crisis on its members and institutions.
“Over 5,987 of our members have been killed; 753 of our worship centres were destroyed by these marauders,” he revealed.
The church called on the Tinubu Government to make the restoration and resettlement of displaced communities the foundation of any agricultural intervention in Benue State.
It also demanded adequate security to guarantee the safe and voluntary return of displaced persons to their communities.
The church further called for a comprehensive inventory of public and faith-based institutions destroyed in affected communities.