Fulani herdsmen sack Benue communities, kill 25

Posted by admin Benue, Headlines, State News Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

TWENTY-FIVE persons, among them an army officer, identified as Lieu-tenant Chinedu Anyanwu, were feared dead in a renewed three days of sustained attacks by

armed herdsmen on villages and towns in the border communities of Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

Also, a soldier, including several persons, had been declared missing, while thousands of displaced persons now lived in camps far away from their homes to avoid attacks by the herdsmen.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the invading herdsmen also burnt down more than 1,000 home-steads in close to 100 compounds in the affected area, close to Udei town, the largest settlement in the area.

Disturbed by the recent attack, the lawmaker representing the constitu-ency, Honourable David Iorhemba, had raised a motion of urgent important at the state House of Assembly, stating that more than 34 persons had been killed by the Fulani herdsmen in a raid.

Hundreds of displaced persons lived in camps situated at Ortese, Daudu and Yelwetta, where the State Emergency Mana-gement Agency (SEMA) had provided relief mate-rials and health care service to them.

An eyewitness, Maureen Tar, who had fled with her children to Makurdi to stay with relatives, told the Nigerian Tribune that the Fulani herdsmen travelled on horseback to get to the villages, where they unleashed terror on them.

The state deputy gover-nor, Steven Lawani, while addresing newsmen after his visit to the troubled areas, said the state government would not condone any breach of peace, adding that gover-nors of Nasarawa and Benue states were expected to meet on Friday, to discuss the issue.

Chief Lawani confirmed the killing of the army officer, adding that the state government had constituted a committee of enquiry into the Fulani/Tiv crisis in Guma Local Government Area of the state.

-Tribunewp_posts