On Sunday, March 3, suspected herders attacked and killed five farmers in Benue state’s Udedeku community, Maav-Ya, Mkoonmom district, Mbaikyor Council Ward, and Turan Jato-Aka Kwande local government areas.
Terlumen Kwaghbee, an eyewitness who escaped the attack, told The Nation over the phone that suspected armed herdsmen stormed the village under the cover of grazing and opened fire on innocent farmers returning from church on Sunday morning.
Kwagbee went on to say: “Five persons were killed at the spots, many others sustained various degrees of injuries, while houses were set ablaze.”
According to him, the bodies of those killed have been deposited in a nearby morgue.
According to a Nation investigation, suspected Fulani herders have seized Moon district, five additional council wards in Turan, and three council wards in Ikyurav-Ya, all in Kwandel local government area in Benue state, for more than ten years.
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Meanwhile, Hon. Ugbor, a House of Representatives member representing the Kwande/Ushongo federal seat, condemned the deaths of his constituents by suspected herders.
Hon. Ugbor stated that the inhabitants of Udeku village, Mbaikyor council ward of Turan, are peaceful and preoccupied with their farming activities, and urged security agents to apprehend the offenders.
In a statement signed by Dagu Fred, his special assistant for media and publicity, and made accessible to The Nation, he described the attack and killing as a setback in his efforts to foster peace in his Kwande-Ushongo federal constituency.
Ugbor also asked for improved collaboration among all stakeholders, including security agencies, traditional rulers, policymakers, and governments at all levels, to put an end to the ongoing killings in Kwande and the surrounding areas.
He urged security forces to intervene and promptly calm the turbulent situation in the constituency, as well as offer relief items to his displaced constituents who are currently living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps without a source of income.
The Benue state police command claimed they had yet to get a report on the incidences from Kwande, which is in the Benue North senatorial zone and shares a border with Taraba and Cameroon.