Some 17 persons, killed in an armed herders’ attack, in Mbakyor at Mbalom Council Ward in Gwer-East Local Government Area of Benue State, have been buried.
Benue State’s Governor Hyacinth Alia, represented by Deputy Governor Sam Ode, expressed the people’s collective sorrow at the solemn occasion for those cut off in their prime.
The victims were buried en masse on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in the community after an interdenominational Christian service.
Giving a genesis of the attack, Chairman of the Association of Mbaikyor Sons in Diaspora, Simon Kofi, told the Governor that his people had recently apprehended two herders, whose cattle ate farm produce.
The two were handed them over to the police due to their nefarious activities.
He explained that the “crime” of the deceased was that they told the herders to steer clear of the community, and this prompted the attack on his kinsmen.
Marauding herdsmen reportedly invaded the community on March 7, 2024, killing the victims, including a retired WO2 Army Officer and a boy.
Two of the 17 farmers were earlier buried, as their corpses were fast decomposing due to the gruesome way they were murdered by their assailants.
He said: “Today is a sad day in the history of Benue State; to line up caskets like this is unacceptable. I am so sad, and my heart is heavy to see this kind of spectacle that shouldn’t have happened.
“Security is not for government alone because there is no one that can protect you like yourself; you need to have a Joint Security Taskforce or vigilante groups that would be properly profiled and handed over to the government to handle them. That is the solution to the insecurity we are facing in the state,”
He pledged to construct the road that passed through the axis to ease the movement of security agencies to the area in times of emergencies, adding that the community was also ripe for a police station.
Member of the Benue State House of Assembly, representing Gwer East, Honourable Elias Audu, wondered why despite the availability of fighter planes to tackle such attacks, security did not live up to their billings
He advised that the relevant security agency should be reprimanded because they would have intervened in the crisis, using fighter helicopters in such a situation.
He accused them of remain aloof when his people were under siege for over 3 hours.
President of the Masev Development Association, Prof. Vitalis Tarhule, noted that the primary responsibility of government was the protection of lives and property, even as he appealed to the government to endeavour to protect the people.
According to him, similar attacks had occurred in 2014, 2018 and 2024, bringing to a total of about 40 lives that were lost.
Tarhule insisted that there was a need to establish a security post in Mbaikyor to check the unwholesome activities of armed herders.
