At least four individuals, including a mother and her son, were killed over the weekend in separate attacks carried out by armed invaders in two Local Government Areas of Benue State.
In one of the incidents, Mlumun Iorhen Igbawua and her son, Terkimbir Iorhen Igbawua, were murdered on Saturday while working on their rice farm at Tse-Nyibiam, near Ngban in Nyiev Council Ward of Guma LGA.
Another two victims were reportedly killed by armed assailants in Mbatyula Council Ward of Katsina-Ala LGA.
A former government official and indigene of Guma, Jimin Geoffrey, revealed that the killings occurred on the same rice farm where the victims’ husband and father, Benjamin Iorhen Igbawua, was previously murdered in May this year.
He disclosed that the remains of Benjamin Igbawua, who was also killed by armed invaders, remain unburied in the morgue at the time his wife and only son were attacked.
They were reportedly weeding the farm when they were killed.
Geoffrey further revealed that Terkimbir’s wife, who went missing during the attack, managed to survive after suffering severe torture from the attackers and has since returned to her family.
The Chairman of Guma LGA, Maurice Orwough, was said to have visited the scene following the incident. He reportedly took the surviving woman to a hospital for medical attention and directed the local government’s security secretary to release funds for the burial of the slain mother and son, which took place on Sunday.
In a related development, fresh attacks were carried out by armed invaders in Mbatyula Council Ward of Katsina-Ala LGA on July 31 and August 1, 2025. Two residents—John Tsebo of Anchaha community and Agber Solomon of Agu Center—were killed.
A resident of the area, who chose to remain anonymous, expressed concerns over the recurring violence and the perceived lack of security intervention despite federal directives aimed at curbing unrest in the state.
“We have lived at the mercy of the armed herders for six years. They kill and destroy our crops at will. We are practically farming for their cows,” the resident lamented.
Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer for the Benue Command, DSP Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful as calls and messages to her phone went unanswered at the time of filing this report.
