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At least five people have been killed in a fresh attack on Udeku Maav-Ya community in Kwande Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State.
Witnesses said that the attack, which occurred on Tuesday at about 4:00pm was reportedly carried out by suspected armed herders while local farmers were harvesting yams and bambara nuts on their farms.
A former Supervisory Councillor in Kwande LGA, Akerigba Lawrence, who confirmed the incident, said the community was caught unawares.
He disclosed that those killed include Tyozua Gyuse, Gbaga Gyuse, and Tersuur Ijighka, while the identities of two other victims were yet to be confirmed even as search efforts were still ongoing for missing persons.
Lawrence said that residents have been living in fear following repeated attacks, alleging that armed men often open fire as early as 4:00am while they restrict access to riverbanks, and destroy crops, houses, and economic trees.
He added that schools, churches, and markets in the area have been shut down as residents continued to lament alleged neglect by authorities despite repeated appeals for intervention.
“We have not seen this number of herders in our place before; every day at about 4:00am, they start shooting, they don’t allow people to access the river bank where they fetch water. They destroyed all our crops, houses and economic trees.
“Our children no longer go to school, churches closed, our markets destroyed. We receive not much attention from the government any time our people are killed, they come with promise and in the end nothing is done. We are at the Mercy of the armed herders,” Lawrence added.
Also confirming the incident, the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Benue State chapter, and Chairman of Kwande LGA, Tersua Yarkwan, said the attack occurred at Udeku village on Tuesday evening after the armed invaders mounted mercenaries in a border community close to Republic of Cameroon.
Yarkwan said that five people were killed during the attack which took the efforts of security personnel to afterwards repel the invaders.
He described Kwande as a peculiar and difficult security terrain due to its international border location to Cameroon and proximity to North East and South-South zones of the country.
The council chairman noted that the incident occurred during the harvest season, warning that continued attacks pose a serious threat to food security as he stressed that local vigilantes and forest guards have remained more effective in responding to security challenges in the area.
Yarkwan further stressed the need for increased government security presence to curb the menace of armed invaders along the states and international borders of Kwande locality.
Police spokesperson for Benue Command, DSP Udeme Edet, had yet to respond to calls and messages put through her telephone for confirmation of the incident at the time of filing this report.
