From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
It was a moment of sadness, that Saturday, when three mourners returning from Guma Local Government, Benue State, were slaughtered by suspected herdsmen. The victims, said to be kinsmen of Governor Samuel Ortom were reportedly attacked along Iordye-Gbajimba Road that evening.
Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Nathaniel Ikyur, said the deceased met their deaths on their way from a burial adding that two of the victims died on the spot from gunshot wounds while the other was brutally macheted to death:
“At about 5.00 pm Saturday, February19, 2022, suspected Fulani gunmen killed two males and a female while returning from a burial along Iordye-Gbajimba Road in Guma LG.”
The victims, Kumaga Nomviha, Anter Skins and Moughga Gbakon, were riding on a motorcycle when they were ambushed and shot dead by the killer herdsmen. It was just one in the series of others that happened in the last few weeks in the state.
Only the previous week, five persons were reportedly killed by suspected herdsmen in two separate attacks in Gwer West Local Government. The attacks occurred on a Thursday, at Tse-Udeghe in Mbapa Council Ward around 4:30 pm, when suspected herdsmen invaded the community in their number and shot sporadically in all directions.
On the same day at about 7:00 pm, some gunmen suspected to be herdsmen laid ambush on Naka/ Makurdi highway, Ahumen village and shot at a moving bus killing one of the passengers in the process.
Chairperson of the local government, Grace Igbabon, who confirmed the report, disclosed that five people were killed and several thatched houses were burnt in the two separate attacks by suspected herdsmen:
“The incident happened around evening on Thursday. We were at the venue where we were donating motorcycles to security operatives when the report came to me that Fulani herdsmen were attacking Mbapa council ward. Four people were killed in the community, including a man and his son.
“Unfortunately, some herders also blocked Makurdi/Naka highway and shot at a moving vehicle. A lady was hit by bullets from these herders.”
Also, eight farmers who were abducted by suspected herdsmen were on Saturday rescued from the kidnappers den in Agasha area of Guma LG by troops of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS).
The victims included 56-year-old Philip Akpage, 30-year-old Aondokula Ijah, 60-year-old Kwadoo Takada, 55-year-old Kwakuma Asongu, 54-year-old Agnes Ornguze, 45-year-old Yanguchan Tiv, 45-year-old Kwadoo Mtomga and 30-year-old Mnembe Terlumum.
Ikyur said there was an exchange of gunfire when the OPWS troops made contact with the kidnappers at Gbekyor village during which the troops over powered them. He maintained that the superior firepower of the soldiers overwhelmed the kidnappers who fled in disarray, leaving behind the kidnapped victims.
He added that the bodies of the deceased were recovered from the scene by troops of the OPWS and deposited at the General Hospital, Gbajimba: “Sadly, this has been the plight of Benue indigenes in the hands of Fulani herdsmen who have invaded the state in a bid to take over our ancestral lands.”
These renewed attacks have plunged the people into palpable fear, especially with the news of influx of herdsmen and their cattle in some local government areas including Buruku, Logo, Gums, Gwer West, Makurdi and Gwer East in the last few weeks.
A community leader in Logo LG, Joseph Anawah, raised the alarm over large influx of Fulani herdsmen into Tse Ikyegh in Yonov council ward: “OnFebruary 20, 2022, at about 8:00pm herdsmen arrived Tse Ikyegh in Yonov council ward with over one thousand cows and settled beside Logo stream.
“They migrated from Tombo Council ward in Logo and proceeded straight to Yonov community in the interior part of Ugondo geo-political axis after causing a lot of destructions of cassava farms and seed yams in Tombo and Turan council wards.
“They are so hostile and did not want anybody to come close to them. The local people, on sighting the arrival of cows, started packing out of their villages for the fear of unknown.
“Unless and until these notorious and blood-thirsty herdsmen are flushed out, there will be no peace in Yonov and Nenzev council wards in Ugondo community as well as the neighbouring communities in Buruku and Guma LGs.”
According to the governor, between 2018 and now, the state is host to over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) driven out of their ancestral homes by marauding herdsmen.
The apprehension is that the current situation, if not nipped in the bud, could plunge the state into another round of herdsmen attacks soon.
A resident, Tersoo Ugber, said: “It is the time of the year when attacks on the residents by herdsmen resume.” He called on government and security agencies to quickly wade into the matter and bring it under control.