No fewer than 30 persons have been reportedly killed in fresh attacks on Benue communities by suspected herdsmen after they invaded parts of the Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state between Monday and Tuesday.
The affected communities are Gaambe-Tiev, Ayilamo and Turan all in Logo LGA as well as Umenger, Tse-Akor and Tomatar near Tse-Abi in Nongov District of Guma LGA.
The invading herdsmen were said to have descended on the communities around 9pm on Monday and continued the attack till around 4am on Tuesday, shooting indiscriminately and burning down houses and huts.
The attacks came on the heels of the implementation of the anti-open grazing law, which the Fulani herdsmen considered detrimental to their means of livelihood.
THEWILL gathered that the affected villages have been deserted and the invaders have taken over and are razing the ancestral homes of the people who have fled from the areas to other towns in their thousands, for fear of being killed.
The corpses of the dead and some of the injured persons were taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi (BSUTH).
Dr. Gajir Tsoho of the Department of Surgery, BSUTH, who spoke with newsmen, disclosed that over 30 victims of the attack were receiving treatment at the teaching Hospital with many corpses already deposited at the morgue of the hospital.
Reacting to the incident, Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, blamed security agents for not taking decisive action to curb the attacks on the people alleging that security agents were informed ahead of time before the herdersmen came to attack the people.
Ortom, who addressed journalists after visiting some of the victims receiving treatment at the BSUTH, Makurdi, declared that no matter the level of intimidation and killings by the herdsmen, the anti-open grazing law would not be reversed or repealed.
“This is unfortunate. The security agencies of this country are aware of what is happening in Benue. So many people are being killed, many houses destroyed, some innocent children were slaughtered, other sliced in the throat just because they want to be law abiding,” he said.
“Even amongst the livestock guards, who were there to ensure that there are no clashes, nine of them were killed and innocent women and children were killed. This is not fair.
“We must rise up; Nigerians must rise up; the Federal Government must rise up to protect us because this is not right. They (FG) own the security apparatus. The ones that are here are doing their best but there should be more and that is what we are calling for.”
