At least eight corpses have been recovered after a deadly attack in the Abagana community, Makurdi, the Benue State capital, by armed men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
Paul Hemba, the special adviser on Security Matters to the Benue State Governor, who confirmed the incident to journalists on Friday, January 20, 2023, said it was carried out late Thursday when the armed men invaded the community near the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Abagana.
According to Paul Hemba, security personnel and other villagers have been combing the bushes in the community for more victims who were said to have been shot by the invaders.
He said entire members of a family of six were all killed in the unfortunate attack.
Hemba further stated that the attack was unprovoked as the villagers were already set to go to bed when they met their untimely deaths at the hands of the Fulani bandits.
According to the Security Adviser, the casualty figure may likely rise as some other persons who were fatally shot and wounded may not survive the injuries to their chests.
Fear Grips As Ogun Communities Receive Notice Letters Of Planned Invasion By Terrorist Herdsmen
Residents of Asa, Agbon, Ibeku, and Oja-Odan communities in the Yewa-North Local Government Area of Ogun State are now under fear of possible attacks following letters they received from those they described as killer herdsmen.
The unknown persons were said to have written residents of the Ogun communities in Ogun state, threatening to invade their house in a reprisal attack.
According to the notice pasted on walls across the villages concerned on Saturday, December 17, 2022, the men informed the residents of their intention to attack the communities soon.
In the letter written in English and Hausa languages, the said herdsmen notified leaders of the communities to expect their coming between December and January, 2023.
“Attention! Attention!! Attention!! To all following communities; Asa, Agbon, lbeku, Oja-odan, and its environs.
“You think you can send away our people from the land they bought in Nigeria, our father’s land, you kill our people, you kill their cows, you take over all their properties. You think you can go scot-free. It’s high time we came for revenge.
“All the above-mentioned communities’ leaders should prepare for the war between December and January. We are coming to take back our father’s property,” the notice read.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed that he had seen the letter.
However, Oyeyemi assured the communities of the command’s commitment to unravel those behind the notice of attack.
“Well, I saw the letter purportedly written by a baseless group. We believe it is a baseless group that wrote the letter. No information is too small to take note of.
“We are not neglecting it. We are working on it to unravel those behind it,” he said.
Daily Post recalls that farmers/herders clashed have claimed lives in the affected communities from time past.
In the first quarter of 2021, many residents of the communities fled their homes for neighbouring Benin Republic, to avoid being killed by the herdsmen.
The crisis got to its peak after a Yoruba Nation agitator visited Igua in Yewa North to evict some Fulani herders.
The Fulani settlement in Igua area was set on fire by some irate youths after Sunday Igboho’s.
In reprisal, many villages were attacked by some suspected herders, who killed and set houses on fire.
It took the intervention of Governor Dapo Abiodun and some northern governors to bring the situation under control.
Source: Daily Post