At least 42 people, including a Mobile Police Officer, have been killed by herdsmen in multiple attacks on four communities in the Gwer West Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State.
Naija News reports that several others have sustained injuries in the violence, which has rocked the region since the weekend.
The herders’ attacks started on Saturday evening, around 5:00 p.m., in Aondona town and continued through to Ahume, Tse-Orbiam, and the Military Base at Tse-Orbiam early on Sunday morning.
A resident, Agatha, who spoke with the Daily Sun, revealed the horrific scale of the violence. “The herders attacked Ahume and Aondona communities and killed many women and children, some of the children were as young as two years old. They killed over 20 people in Aondona, including a Mobile policeman,” she said.
She continued, “People are being killed every day. Villagers have deserted the area, and there’s no way to pass through Naka road.”
Another source, Terser Tyona, reported a “killing spree” throughout the weekend, stating, “10 people were killed in Ahume, five in Tyolaha, and seven others in Tse-Orbiam.”
The violence extended to a priest, Rev. Fr. Solomon Atongo, who was shot on Sunday along the Naka-Makurdi road. Additionally, two individuals were abducted near the military base in the area.
The Chairman of Gwer West LGA, Victor Ormin, confirmed the killings, calling the situation “genocide.” “Yes, it happened, and it is still happening. It’s a pathetic situation. As we speak, we are still recovering bodies. Over 30 dead bodies have been recovered between yesterday (Sunday) and today (Monday),” Ormin stated.
He provided further details of the attacks, saying, “The attack in Aondona happened around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday to dawn, and the one in Ahume was around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. On Saturday, Tse-Orbiam was attacked, just beside the military checkpoint, only about three kilometers from Naka.”
Ormin continued, “I buried five people yesterday, and five others were taken to the mortuary on Saturday. Now, we are talking about 40 or more people killed. This is genocide.”
Military Response Hampered By Lack Of Orders
The Gwer West Chairman revealed his frustration with the military’s response, saying, “I have been told by the military that they don’t have the mandate to act on the situation. They said they can only engage these people if they fire at them, and that even the governor doesn’t have the authority to order them to act—only the President can give such orders.”
While acknowledging the soldiers’ competence, Ormin noted that they were waiting for directives before taking action. “We are not saying that the military is incompetent. The soldiers are waiting for the orders and mandate to act, which they have not yet received,” he explained.
In an emotional video that has gone viral on social media, Ormin threatened to resign if urgent help was not provided to secure his people.
“So my people should be killed, and they should all die before the federal government would do something?” he asked, visibly distressed.
Ormin recalled burying a father and two of his children aged between 40 and 50 in Tse-Orbiam, expressing his growing despair.
“If they cannot help me, maybe I will leave this chairmanship position and let it continue the way it is. I don’t care about being a chairman of a people that are all killed. This is getting too much for me to condone,” he said.
