Suspected herdsmen reportedly kill 28 in Benue, Nasarawa communities

Not less than 28 persons have been reportedly killed in attacks carried out by suspected herdsmen in communities in Benue and Nasarawa States respectively.

This revelation was made known on Saturday by a former Speaker of the Benue State House Assembly, Dave Iorhemba, while briefing newsmen on the escalating insecurity in the two states which he said were targeted at Tiv people.

Iorhemba said a total of 17 people were killed in separate attacks on communities in the Guma local government area of the Benue between Friday and Saturday, while several others sustained various degrees of injuries and are currently receiving treatment in various hospitals in the state.

The former lawmaker noted that communities such as Ayeri and Tse-Gboigyo in Mbaye/Yandev Ward in Guma, suffered deadly attacks in the hands of the invaders who “had only one mission which was to kill the residents. ”

“In the last couple of days, 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.

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“What is most disturbing was the recent attack that happened at Tse-Uhembe in which a suspected herdsman inflicted machete cuts on a farmer who also retaliated by cutting him (the herdsman). Both of them were brought to a military checkpoint.

“The number of persons we have counted is up to 17 and some are badly injured and are receiving treatment in the hospital.

“We also gathered that 11 people were killed in the early hours of Saturday by suspected herdsmen who launched an attack on Ajimaka community, a Tiv settlement in the Doma local government area of Nasarawa State.

“The attacks on Tiv people in the two states, particularly those living at the border areas between Benue and Nasarawa has become quite frequent despite efforts by the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, and his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom, to ensure lasting peace.

“Each time the herdsmen have issues relating to implementation of the anti-open grazing law by the Benue State government, they turn back to attack our Tiv people in Nasarawa.

“We have Tivs in Nasarawa state. We are peace-loving people. The herdsmen must stop attacking our people for things we know nothing about.”

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