ANYIIN, Benue State – A disturbing trend of selective security is emerging across Logo and Kwande LGAs, where industrial mining operations are flourishing in the same “red zones” where indigenous farmers are being slaughtered and driven from their ancestral homes.
From Tsukwa to Akwana, the landscape is a study in contradictions. While thousands of villagers have fled to IDP camps to escape the relentless onslaught of armed herdsmen, heavy mining machinery continues to hum unhindered in the deserted bush.
The Deadly Disparity
Local observers, including Johnson Tingir, have raised the alarm over why these armed groups—who frequently ambush and kill farmers—appear to grant total immunity to mining sites. “Our people cannot go to their ancestral homes to farm for fear of being killed,” one source noted. “Yet, mining activities go on safely in those same places. There has never been a report of herdsmen attacking the miners.”
Land Grabs or Insecurity?
The regions of Logo and Kwande sit atop lucrative deposits of lithium and gold. This has fueled a growing suspicion that the ongoing violence is a tactical “clearing” of the population to give miners unfettered access to the soil. Critics argue that if the Benue State Government and security agencies can provide a safe environment for mineral extraction, they should be able to do the same for the farmers who feed the state.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens, the sight of “protected” mining in “unprotected” war zones remains a stinging symbol of a hidden agenda that many fear is being prioritized over human lives.
