16 dead in another Benue attack

In an attack on Wandor, Mbaikyor community in the Mbalom Council Ward of Gwer East Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue State on Thursday evening, a retired army officer and fifteen other people are claimed to have died at the hands of suspected armed herdsmen.

In 11 communities, the invaders were also said to have destroyed more than fifty homes, shelters, farms, and food barns.

About six years prior, two Catholic priests and seventeen parishioners were killed in a similar attack by armed herdsmen on St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Ukpor Parish, Mbalom Gwer East LGA.

Speaking under anonymity, an attack survivor stated that the approximately forty armed raiders ambushed the neighbourhood at approximately 7 o'clock at night and started shooting at the unprepared people.

He said: “They came through Mbasombo into our village. There is a Fulani settlement close to the boundary between Ihyravye and Ayar. We know the Alhaji who has caused this because we had earlier arrested three of his boys and handed them over to the Police at Aliade. It was documented. But the boys were later released.

“It is that Alhaji that is operating in this axis. In fact a retired military officer that was following up the case, MWO Mbatsavbun Gbatar (retd.), the community security adviser who reported the case was among those killed.

“They took us by surprise. They came numbering over 40 at about 7pm, some had guns and others cutlasses. And the operation lasted for over three hour. As I’m talking to you now over 50 houses have been burnt.”

It was also reported that Dr Sam Ode, the deputy governor of Benue State, led a trip to the town.

The sociocultural group of the locals, the Masev Development Association, or MDA, reacted, expressing shock at the brutal murder of the area's innocent residents and the destruction of their ancestral homes in a statement provided to newsmen in Makurdi by the MDA's media adviser, Dr. David Mtswenem. The statement was signed by MDA President General, Prof. Vearumun Tarhule.

Source