5 killed in renewed attack on Benue community

At least five people have been reportedly killed after gunmen launched renewed attack on Mondo village in Ukemberagya – Gaambetiev council ward of Logo local government area in Benue state on Tuesday night.

Daily Trust gathered that a few other communities were also torched by the attackers who allegedly invaded the rural surroundings bordering two states of Nasarawa and Taraba by land on one side as well as river on the other side.

Chief Joseph Anawah, a community leader in Logo, told our correspondent by telephone that the locals had heard on Monday that some of the attackers who he alleged were herders started crossing the river in their numbers from the neighbouring state into their vicinity.

Anawah said at about 11:00pm on Tuesday night, the attackers stormed Mondo village and while firing sporadically, killed the five people whose names he listed as, Torkaa Gbim, Celina Tavershima, Ayilaga Tavershima, Sonter Tavershima and Terkaa Tavershima.

He said some people were still missing while inhabitants in their droves have deserted their homes in the area.

Also, the Logo council chairman, Richard Nyajo, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, confirmed the incident, stating that the attackers on Tuesday night entered some villages in his domain and killed five people in Mondo while injuring two others.

Nyajo, who attributed the attack to suspected herders, explained that the deceased victims included four men and one woman, adding that the gunmen fired gunshots at water tanks in the communities attacked and burnt few houses.

The council chairman further said he had reported the matter to the Force Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS), Major General, Adeyemi Yekini.

He stressed that the security operatives who he earlier directed to the scene of incident discovered the victims’ corpses.

But, Major-General Yekini on his part told newsmen in Makurdi that the attack was a spill over of the Jukun/Tiv crisis which occurred on Tuesday in Kente, a Taraba State town bordering Benue.

Yekini said that the attacked Logo village sits closely to the area of those affected troubled communities of Taraba as he emphasised that his troops had already visited the scene of the attack.

“My officer visited the village and confirmed that the incident was a spill over attack from the Jukun of Kente following the outbreak of inter-communal clashes yesterday (Tuesday) between the Jukun and Tiv at Kente in Taraba state.

“I spoke with the Security Adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom and he is already on his way to Wukari to find amicable solution to the internal communal crisis while our troops are also patrolling the border areas between the two states,” the Force Commander added.

Meanwhile, the duo of Nyajo, Logo chairman and community leader, Anawah, insisted that the attackers were suspected herders saying the invasion had nothing to do with the spill-over of the Taraba crisis.

When contacted, the chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Benue state, Haruna Ibi, said he was not aware of any problem between herders and the locals in the area.

Ibi said rather that the Jukun and Tiv people had communal crisis along the border communities of Benue and Taraba states, alleging that, the Jukuns in the heat of the clash had sought the help of their brothers resident on the riverine fringes of the state to fight the Logo people.

“So, the Logo attack has nothing to do with my members (herders). It was those Jukuns at the border area who got help from their Jukun brothers in another LGA by the riverside and fought Logo people on Tuesday,” the MACBAN chairman said.