Easter Bloodbath: Herdsmen Wreck Havoc In Benue, Kill 38 Women, Children 51 others wounded

BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Suspected armed herdsmen on Friday stormed the camp of Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP) in Benue State community killing mostly women and children.

It was learnt that the invaders broke into a primary school harbouring the displaced citizens in Nyiev Ward, Guma Local Government Area, around 7:00 p.m., according to a witness who spoke on the attack.

“They arrived from different sides of the community and started killing people in the camp,” the witness, who identified himself as Ihembe Tyubee, said by telephone on Saturday morning.

“They even chased some people who broke out of the camp to the road and killed them there.”

Pregnant women and children were among the fatalities, the witness added, emphasising that the attackers spoke Fulfude, the language of Fulani ethnic nationalities.

At least 51 people were said to have been evacuated to the state’s medical centre in Makurdi after being mortally injured by the assailants, who immediately fled the scene.

The victims were residents who had fled their villages to the camps following previous attacks that gripped the vast agrarian region in central Nigeria.

A police spokesperson in Benue said the command was aware of the attack but declined to provide additional details as to how it happened and the possible location of suspects.

A spokesman for Governor Samuel Ortom said the governor had been briefed about the matter and would issue a statement later.

The state has endured attacks from killer herdsmen over the past six years amid disputes over available lands for farming and grazing.

Mr Ortom’s administration signed a law that prohibited open grazing across the state, saying it would also curtail the movement of potential attackers.

The governor said his policy engendered a reduction in the frequency of the carnage by the killer pastoralists, many of whom remained largely unknown and whose activities had been repeatedly condemned by the association of herders (MACBAN).

Last month, the same Local Government Area was attacked by suspected herdsmen, cutting short lives of over 15 persons.

Editor

Jude Ossai (JP) a veteran journalist is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State. He also studied at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) Enugu and Imo State University, Owerri for his first and second degrees in Mass Communication, respectively. He writes extensively on politics, crime, corruption, climate change, healthcare, human rights, social justice, among others.