From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Four persons, including three teenagers have reportedly died following an attack by suspected Herdsmen in Yelwata community of Guma Local Government area of Benue State on Saturday.
It was gathered that the teenagers had gone to their farm and were working when the Herdsmen stormed the area and killed all three brothers and then disappeared into thin air.
The development was said to have angered the youths in the area who recovered the corpses of the victims and used them to block the Makurdi-Lafia highway for several hours.
Efforts by the military, the police and other security agencies to get the angry youths off the road were said to have been rebuffed this causing heavy traffic gridlock on the major highway.
According to the council chairman of Guma Local Government, Caleb Abah, the fourth person died after one of the security personnel accidentally fired a shot in the crowd.
“Sadly, in an attempt to disperse the angry youths who were resisting, there was a shot by the security agencies and unfortunately, one of the protesters was hit by a bullet and killed.
“As we speak right now, calm has been restored to the area and we are already making arrangements for the dead to be buried,” the council boss said.
He acknowledged the efforts of Governor Samuel Ortom who quickly mobilized some government functionaries to the troubled area to calm frayed nerves which resulted in the quick resolution of the matter.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, DSP Catherine Anene could not be reached at the time of this report as she did not pick nor return calls put to her phone number at the time of this report.