Three additional people are said to have died in the Ayati community in Ukum Local Government Area, bringing the total number of deaths in the ongoing gang war in Benue State to twenty-five.
At least 22 deaths have been reported in the Chito and Tyo Akosu areas of Ukum LGA since the unrest started over the weekend. The “Chain Gang” and “Full Fire” groups, two opposing criminal organizations, engaged in a vicious fight that resulted in the outbreak of bloodshed.
According to reports, the battle, which started over the weekend, moved into the Ayati village on Sunday night, killing three more people who were reportedly members of a gang.
An anonymous source in the area told Platinum Times:
“We learnt that the attack in Ayati at a gathering that claimed three lives on Sunday evening was an extension of the fight that started at the weekend in Chito and Tyo Akosu. The fact is that no one knows who is what anymore among our youths. And we cannot tell who is sympathetic to any group and who is not. That is why the fight is getting messier and they are killing human beings as if they were animals.”
Ezra Nyiyongo, the legislator representing Ukum State Constituency in the State House of Assembly, has responded to the bloodbath by urging the state government to intensify strategies to address the crisis.
“You are aware when the serving Commissioner for Information, Matthew Aboh, was picked (abducted). One of our elder statesmen was picked and he later died in their hands. So, we have been having these recurrences. You will hear that today 24 people were killed, other times 11, and it keeps on happening every other day,” he said.
He further told Platinum Times:
“We as a government need to step up our strategy. I am particularly pained, and I believe the government is looking at it critically. As a legislator, I have reported it to my Speaker and we will take it up with the Governor. I believe we will make headway sooner or later. I believe the governor, during our electioneering campaigns, promised to do everything to bring peace, even if it meant bringing the carrot approach to the so-called boys in the bush.”
He added:
“Sometimes, I am ashamed because if it were external aggressors that were attacking us, then you could say there is a breakdown of law and order but here we have a case whereby the same brothers from the same mother and father are pointing guns at each other. Who is going to report who? This is the situation I am facing. It is devastating. It is terrible.”