A yet-to-be-confirmed number of Tiv farmers in Benue State were killed Wednesday by suspected Fulani herders, according to the press secretary to Gov Samuel Ortom.
Mr Nathaniel Ikyur, in a press statement in Makurdi, said the incident was recorded in Guma local government area of the state.
According to Ikyur, the latest attack took place at Ye village, along Daudu-Gbajimba road.
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He stated that the assailants also attacked another settlement and killed more than four people and injured many. The injured have been taken to a nearby health centre, he said.
A part of the release read, “The Fulani gunmen who invaded the villages in the early hours are believed to have crossed over from a neighbouring state into Benue to wreck the unprovoked murder on the villagers.
“Eyewitness accounts said the Fulani terrorists who had earlier issued a threat to the Tse Torkula community, asking them to leave the village or face dire consequences, came on motorcycles and without any herd of cattle.”
Our correspondent gathered that Torkula is the ancestral home of the late Tor Tiv IV, HRM Alfred Akawe Torkula.
The statement further stated that, “The invaders were said to have first of all shot sporadically into the air before breaking into the houses of their victims who were already fast asleep.
“There have been renewed Fulani terrorist attacks on border communities in Benue State with heavy casualties on the Benue side.”
It would be recalled that suspected Fulani militia on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, killed over five persons in the Ahentse, Nzorov council ward of Benue State and wounded many.
Governor Samuel Ortom, while reacting to the recent attack, reiterated his call on the federal government to step up security operations along the crisis areas of the state.
He cautioned that, “The patience of the people who are now victims and rendered homeless by the murderous activities of the Fulani militia should not be tested any longer. We should not push the victims into looking for self-help because this will not be good for the unity of this country.
“I have repeatedly called on the federal government to convoke a national security summit of all ethnic nationalities to find lasting solutions to the increasing wave of terrorism that is gradually tearing up the bond in our nation.”