Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has called on residents to defend themselves after gunmen killed 24 people in separate attacks.

The governor confirmed the deadly attack in a statement released by the Benue’s government’s spokesman, Nathaniel Ikyur, on Wednesday.

According to Ikyur, the assailants, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen attacked the Mbadwem and Tiortyu villages in Guma and Tarka local government areas respectively.

“Suspected (Fulani) herdsmen invaded and killed 8 persons in Mbadwem in Guma local government and 16 in Tiortyu, a sprawling settlement in Tarka local government.

“Scores of others were injured and are receiving treatment in an unnamed hospital in the state,” he was quoted by AFP.

As such, Ortom urged residents to “rise up to defend themselves.”

“It is becoming increasingly glaring every day that my people are now an endangered species and so we can no longer wait for help from anywhere.

“We have only one option,” he added. “To defend ourselves or get extinct. This is a case for our survival.”