17 persons killed in fresh attack by suspected herdsmen in Benue state
Suspected herdsmen have reportedly killed about 17 persons in several communities in Benue state.
According to Dave Iorhemba, a former Speaker of the Benue State Assembly, said on Saturday that 17 people were killed in separate attacks on communities in the Guma Local Government Area of the state.
The former speaker disclosed with journalists that many people were injured and receiving treatment in various hospitals in the state. He noted that communities such as Ayeri and Tse-Gboigyo in Mbaye/Yandev Ward, Guma, suffered deadly attacks between 1am and 2am on Saturday.
The former speaker added that a primary school teacher known as Hycint Ajum, at Isherev in the local government was massacred last Wednesday.
“In the last couple of weeks, there has been a series of attacks in some particular areas like Tse-Ukor where scores were killed and at Tse-Gborigyo where seven people were killed and several others injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. What is most disturbing was the recent attack that happened at Tse-Uhembe in which a Fulani herdsman inflicted machete cuts on a farmer who also retaliated by cutting him (the herdsman). Both of them were brought to a military checkpoint.”
On the exact number of casualties recorded between Friday and Saturday, the ex-Speaker said, “Now the number of persons we have counted is up to 17 and some are badly injured and are receiving treatment in the hospital.”
The former speaker however commended troops of OPWS, appealing to the authorities to ensure that the troops do not stay long in a particular area.
“When they continue to stay in one place, they become used to the people and they certainly cannot act in the way and manner they should. I would suggest that the Federal Government redeploy them to other points.”
