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Injure 38 others
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Ortom summons emergency security meeting
Not fewer than 36 people have been confirmed killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Nyiev council ward of Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State by criminals suspected to be herdsmen on Friday night.
The attackers razed down an undisclosed number of houses, set fire on barns of yam seedlings and other farm produce warehoused in the affected houses.
Reports have it that the majority of the victims of the attack are women and children.
The incident is coming at the heels of the last killings by herdsmen in Umogidi community of Otukpo LGA of the state, where about 50 persons were killed on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
It was gathered that the attack occurred at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, Mgban in Guma LGA along the Makurdi-Lafia road between 9 pm and 10pm on Friday night.
The assailants who carried out the attack on the hapless peasant farmers at LGEA primary school, Mgban, situated behind the house of Tyoor u Nyiev, Chief Bernard Shawa also attacked some surrounding villages in the area.
Governor Samuel Ortom, while lamenting the increase in herdsmen attack on Benue communities, confirmed the attack and number of deaths in Friday’s killings and stressed that Tyoor u Nyiev, Chief Bernard Shawa lost two of his children to the attack.
Ortom also conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the damage caused by the marauders and further lamented that with the spate of attacks across the state that have left over one hundred persons dead in the last one week, if allowed to continue, the Benue people may be anihialated in a short time.
While describing the attack as, “unfortunate and condemnable”, the governor noted that it was for one of those reasons that the State Government enacted the Anti-Open Grazing Law.
Ortom noted that the Anti-Open Grazing law was supposed to be a win-win for all; a law enacted by the Benue people, adding that the perpetrators are well known and should be fished out and punished for their acts.
The governor decried the attack and stated that Benue people are law-abiding and won’t be provoked to take up arms against anyone.
While commending President Muhammadu Buhari for condoling with the people of Benue state, he advised that the President should go beyond that and make everything possible to smoke out the bandits from Benue.
He advised that whoever assumes the mantle of leadership after him and decides to repeal the Anti-Open grazing law was welcome to do so, insisting that it would not happen under his watch.
He maintained that he would only repeal the law when the people were ready to do so, and further advised the incoming leadership to adequately prepare for governance and should weigh every word carefully before they voice it out.
He assured the people of the area that he will always stand by them and God will definitely help them and indeed the Benue people out of their predicament.
The Governor said that Benue State would hold an emergency Security Council meeting on Tuesday to find ways of ameliorating the current security challenges bedeviling the people of the state, and observed a minute silence of prayer for the departed souls during the visit to the community.
Dr Mike Ubah, Chairman, Guma LGA appreciated the Governor for always identifying with them at all times, and noted that despite all the governor has done to end the herdsmen attacks in the state, the issue has defied solution.
He alleged that the people of the state and the area have held their peace, in spite of the fact that they always identify their attackers.
Ubah, who is also the Chairman of Association of Local Government Chairmen (ALGON) in the state explained that many of the deaths recorded indicate that two or more members of particular families were killed by the herders; the son of the Tyoor inclusive.
On his part, Tyoor u Nyiev, Chief Bernard Shawa narrating the incident said he was at home and was outside at about 10 pm when we had gun shots.
He explained that at first he was not sure it was an attack until the gunshots grew louder and eventually he saw billows of smoke arising from houses that were set ablaze by the herders.
Chief Shawa further narrated that the assailants entered the class rooms, housing the IDPs one after the other and shot their victims at close range. He said 36 of them died instantly while 39 were moved to the hospital for treatment.
Nyi Isherev, a 75 year old man who was shot in the buttocks, in his attempt to flee from the attackers described the moment as horrifying.
His 30 year old son who was in the same ward with him at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) was shot in the thigh
It was gathered that even though there were security men on ground, when the attack took place, they were overwhelmed by the number and firepower of the rampaging herdsmen.
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