At least five persons have been confirmed dead following a fresh attack on Udeku Maav-Ya community in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.
Residents said the incident occurred on Tuesday at about 4:00 p.m., when suspected armed herders allegedly invaded the area while farmers were harvesting yams and bambara nuts on their farmlands.
A former Supervisory Councillor in Kwande LGA, Akerigba Lawrence, who confirmed the attack, said the community was taken unawares by the assailants, according to Daily Post.
He disclosed that those killed include Tyozua Gyuse, Gbaga Gyuse, and Tersuur Ijighka, while the identities of two other victims were yet to be confirmed.
According to him, search efforts were ongoing to locate other missing residents.
Lawrence lamented that recurring attacks had thrown the community into a state of fear and uncertainty, noting that armed men frequently launch assaults in the early hours of the day.
He alleged that the attackers have restricted residents’ access to riverbanks, destroyed farmlands, homes, and economic trees, and crippled daily activities.
“We have not seen this number of herders in our place before; every day at about 4:00am, they start shooting, they don’t allow people to access the river bank where they fetch water. They destroyed all our crops, houses and economic trees.
“Our children no longer go to school, churches closed, our markets destroyed. We receive not much attention from the government any time our people are killed, they come with promise and in the end nothing is done. We are at the Mercy of the armed herders,” Lawrence added.
The Chairman of Kwande LGA and Chairman of the Benue State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Tersua Yarkwan, also confirmed the incident.
He explained that the attack occurred on Tuesday evening, allegedly from a border community close to the Republic of Cameroon.
Yarkwan said five persons lost their lives before security operatives were able to repel the attackers.
He described Kwande as a difficult security environment due to its location near Cameroon and its links to parts of the North East and South-South regions.
He warned that persistent attacks in the area could pose serious threats to food security, especially during the harvest season.
According to him, local vigilantes and forest guards have shown greater effectiveness in responding to the attacks, but stressed the need for increased government security presence to curb armed incursions along both state and international borders.
Efforts to get a response from the Benue State Police Command were unsuccessful, as calls to the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, were not answered as of the time of filing this report.
