Benue PDP Chieftains Boycott Jonathan Rally In Minna Because Of TheKilling Of Some Tiv Farmers By Fulani Herdsmen.

Some chieftains of the PDP billed to attend a zonal rally in Minna, where the candidacy of President Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election is expected to be endorsed today have boycotted the rally.

It was gathered that the party chieftains and Benue delegation to the rally boycotted it as a result of the killing of some Tiv farmers during their clash with Fulani herdsmen.

The Nation gathered that as the bus which was conveying the delegation to Minna for the North Central zonal rally involving Benue, Kogi, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) approached Daudu town in Benue State, they saw some internally displaced  persons allegedly shot by soldiers from the 72 Special Battalion in Makurdi in pains at the roadside.

The soldiers, who were drafted to restore order in the town, were said to have opened fire and shot the victims in the process.

Upon sighting the victims and other members of the community who were fleeing for dear lives, Chief Godwin Ikyereve, a former federal PDP lawmaker representing Gwer/Gwer West, was said to have ordered the driver of the bus conveying them to the Minna venue of the rally to stop and alighted.

Other PDP chieftains on the delegation were said to have followed in his steps.

In a telephone interview with The Nation, Chief Godwin Ikeyereve, a former chairman of  the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State Council, said it made no meaning to go to a PDP zonal rally in Minna, which he described as a jamboree, while blood was flowing in Tiv land.

He said: “I dropped from the bus on the way to Minna because my people were being killed and driven from their homes.

“I saw women with children on their back, trekking long distances. Some were shot and killed, others were abandoned in their blood.

“I can’t attend a jamboree in the current circumstances. Even though am still a PDP member, the security of my people is paramount and should be given attention before the jamboree called the PDP zonal rally, because we are elected to provide security of life and property.”

Many PDP members who could not hold back tears when they saw the plight of the displaced persons and also dropped  from the Minna bound bus included council chairmen, House of Assembly members and ex-lawmakers.

 source The Nation.