Fulani Herdsmen kill 20, burn houses in fresh Benue attacks

No fewer than 50 persons have been killed in fresh attacks on Benue communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen after they invaded parts of the Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state on New Year’s Day.

The attacks, which spilled over to Tuesday, came on the heels of the implementation of the anti-open grazing law, which the Fulani herdsmen considered detrimental to their means of livelihood.

Reporters gathered that in the Monday’s attacks, the herders invaded two communities in Guma and three communities in the Logo LGAs.

The affected communities are Gaambe-Tiev, Ayilamo and Turan all in Logo LGA as well as Umenger, Tse-Akor and Tomatar near Tse-Abi in Nongov District of Guma LGA.

The invading herdsmen were said to have attacked Gaambe-Tiev, Ayilamo and Turan villages in Logo LGA on New Year’s Day at the time the people were returning from the New Year’s service.

The assailants were said to have descended on the communities around 9pm on Monday and continued the attack till around 4am on Tuesday, shooting indiscriminately and burning down houses and huts.

A source, who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity, said, “There were coordinated attacks on five communities by the well-armed herdsmen who stormed our villages in large number, around 10pm to 4am.

They would enter any particular compound, and knock at the door. Once you open your door, they will capture you and slaughter you.

“As I speak with you, the affected villages have been deserted and the invaders have taken over and are razing the ancestral homes of the people who have fled from the areas to other towns in their thousands, for fear of being killed.

“It’s a pathetic situation. The development has inflicted untold hardship on women, children and the elderly, who are trekking long distances in search of a safe haven and awaiting the intervention of security operatives.”

At the time reporters visited the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, on Tuesday, two fresh corpses were brought into the hospital while many others were said to have been deposited in the morgue.

Dr. Gajir Tsoho of the Department of Surgery, BSUTH, who spoke with newsmen, disclosed that over 30 victims of the attack were receiving treatment at the teaching Hospital with many corpses already deposited at the morgue of the hospital.

Among the dead brought to the hospital during the visit of reporters on Tuesday were a father and his two-year-old son as well as a young man said to have just returned home after completing his National Youth Service Corps.