Mass Burial For Victims Of Fresh Benue Attack Holds Friday

Burial for the 24 victims of suspected herdsmen attack in Benue, will hold on Friday, the state government says.

The Cable reports that Samuel Ortom, governor of the state, ordered that the victims of the latest attacks, which occurred on Monday be buried this Friday.

No fewer than 24 persons, mostly women and children, were killed in a fresh crisis at Omusu Edimoga in the Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.

The council Chairman, Olofu Ogwuche, stated this while conducting the state Governor, Samuel Ortom, round the affected community on Tuesday.

“I rushed down to the community along with policemen and we were able to recover 17 corpses which we took to the mortuary at the Okpoga General Hospital.

“This morning (Tuesday), we had recovered the remains of six persons that have been taken to the mortuary. As we were moving around, the corpse of an 11-year-old girl was recovered. So, in all, 24 persons have been confirmed dead, while some are still missing.”

The attackers had invaded the community after they reportedly lost their cattle and two herdsmen.

Two herdsmen were declared missing on Monday morning, after some Irate youth from Omutu reportedly engaged them in a fight, during which some of their cows were rustled.

A peace meeting was subsequently convened between the community and Fulani community in the area.

However, trouble started when one of the herdsmen was reportedly found dead.

While condemning the attack, Ortom accused the Fulani Herdsmen of taking laws into their hands.

“They reported a case of cattle rustling, and instead of waiting for the outcome of the police investigation, they went to the community and killed 24 people in a day, it is senseless.

“The people in this community do not understand cow language, so no one here rustles their cow. It is Fulani men that are rustling their fellow Fulani men’s cows.

“We cannot continue with these senseless killings, that is why we came out with the law which is aimed to protect everyone.

“When Sharia law was introduced in Zamfara State, no one violated the law; let security men do their job and arrest the perpetrators.”

The governor, however, called on the people not to take the law into their own hands.