From Hir Scholastica Onyeka Makurdi
These are certainly not the best of times for farmers and community members in Benue State as armed herdsmen have made sorrow, tears and blood their signature.
Though it is not clear the number of people that have died recently, community members and their leaders said the spate of renewed attacks by herdsmen militia of Fulani origin and other criminal elements in most parts of the state, especially Ukemberagya communities in Logo Local Government Area, in Otukpo and other places, have taken a different dimension with deaths and bloodshed in alarming proportions.
The people are either attacked on their farms, in their homes or waylaid and murdered on the road.
On Tuesday, October 16, 2023, gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked Ayilamo and Mbachohon communities in Logo and Gwer-West local government areas of the state, killing five persons and injuring many others.
Sources said the armed herdsmen attacked Ayilamo and Mahanga (Mobile Barracks) settlements in Logo LGA about 10:08pm, Tuesday, killing five people, including, Ayev Jôgunô, Faiga Apefan, Msendoo Vaachia, James Iorliam and Orgbee Mnguerorga, while the injured, Mrs. Mngohol Utile, Mr. Vershima Meeme and Mrs. Terpase Nyerga, were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
But while the others were being treated at a clinic in Anyiin, Logo LGA, Mngohol Utile Msugh, a 39-year-old mother of four, and her 15-year-old daughter, Doofan Msughter, were rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, (BSUTH), where they are still fighting for their lives.
Mrs. Utile and her daughter sustained gunshot injuries when the attackers came. She was shot in the right side of her chest, the bullet tore open her stomach and all her intestines poured out.
“It was by the grace of God that she made it to the hospital,” her husband, Utile Msugh, told this reporter during a visit in the Makurdi hospital.
Narrating their ordeal, the victim’s husband, Msugh, from Ayilamo in Tombo council ward, Logo LGA, said: “On Tuesday, October 16, 2023, herdsmen came around 8pm. We were in the house. I had just finished taking my bath and went inside the room and my brothers and neighbours were in the compound taking fresh air.
“When I came out, my wife also went in to take her own bath. It was at that moment that the herdsmen came and opened fire on everyone that was sitting out there.
“I was inside and all I heard was gunshots. They were shooting continuously. So, I remained inside my house and locked the door from inside. After the shooting stopped, I crawled out silently and discovered that they shot five people outside my house.
“My immediate younger brother was shot and killed on the spot, four others were also shot but still alive. My wife and my daughter were badly injured. She was shot in the right side of her chest and the bullet came out of the left side of her stomach with all her intestines outside. So, we rushed them to the clinic at Ayilamo. I give God the glory that she is still alive.”
He recalled the boldness with which the attackers operated, saying: “I saw three of the herdsmen carrying guns. They were in ordinary clothes and were speaking Fulani language. By the time we discovered my daughter, she had also been shot and, luckily, the bullet only affected her left leg.
“It was surprising to us. We were not expecting such a thing. We were in our homes, not even in the farms.
“The soldiers were there in the community so when it happened we reported to them and they came immediately but before they arrived, the herders had carried out their mayhem and disappeared into the bush.”
Utile, who cultivates yam and cassava to feed his family, said they have not had any moment of peace for a long time: “We will go to the farm, suffer and plant our crops and before harvest time they will herd their cattle into the farms and eat up everything. When you struggle to go there to speak to them, they kill you there on the farm.”
“This is not the first time these people are attacking us. We want government to deploy more security operatives to our area for the safety of our people,” he said.
He appealed to Governor Hyacinth Alia, and other good-spirited individuals to support them in offseting their medical bills.
Utile said he was battling to save the life of his wife and daughter on an empty purse. He said the burden of procuring medicines and other consumables was heavy and solicited help to enable him save his family.
“Since we came, I’m the one paying and we don’t have any dime at the moment. We need help, please,” he said.
At the time of Daily Sun’s visit, Mngohol, who was operated upon in the early hours of the day, was just recovering from the effects of anaesthetics given to her, and was heard mumbling incoherently while also complaining of hunger.
The nurse on duty said Mngohol was in critical condition and needed help urgently. The nurse, who didn’t want to named, told Daily Sun: “Mngohol needs blood transfusion. She has taken the first, second and needs more. She is currently on oxygen and they need more support, especially money, to buy drugs and other consumables. As we speak, she doesn’t have drugs. She also needs people around her. She needs able hands that can take care of her while she is here.
“As we speak now, she won’t be using her normal rectum to poo. We have constructed another one by the stomach from where she would pass her stool. We hope that she recovers quickly to enable them reverse it.
“It might be permanent or reversed and that is why I said she needs money now so she could get all the drugs and medication required.”
When Mr. Utile took this reporter to the ward where her daughter, Doofan Msughter, was admitted at the children’s surgical ward, he explained that the 15-year-old girl was sitting outside the compound when the herders came. “On sighting the herdsmen, she was trying to run when they shot her from the back but, luckily, the bullet hit her in the left thigh, tearing to the front,” he said.
The immediate past administration of Samuel Ortom assisted victims of herdsmen’s attacks to offset their bills in hospitals. It was, however, gathered that the new government is yet to enter into such agreements with the hospital, a development which has left Utile helpless.
Also speaking on the renewed killings in the state, a community leader in Logo LGA, Mr. Joseph Anawa, recalled that armed herdsmen attacked Imatom village on October 14, 2023, and killed three people he identified as Tertsea Adagundu, Tertsea Mkposu and Mimidoo Umburga.
Accordingnto him, the three young men were killed by “militia herdsmen at Imatom village square, near Chembe, Ukemberagya, Logo, on Saturday, October 14, at about 9pm.”
Anawa said all the renewed attacks and killings were without any provocation, just as they were aimed at displacing the peasant farmers to pave the way for cattle to graze on their crops, which are yet to be harvested.
The community leader said herdsmen have carried out a series of renewed onslaughts in the council and other parts of the state from the beginning of September 2023.
The renewed terrorism by herdsmen militia started recently started on Saturday, September 3, at about 11am when one Monday Hembaku was accosted and killed on his cassava farm in Chembe village.
It was learnt that his body was still lying in the morgue and, five days later, on September 29, herdsmen macheted and killed two women: Mrs. Lember Ornguga and Dinnah Chembe, from the same Chembe village, who went to their farms to fetch firewood.
“Another attack took place on Wednesday, October 11 around 9am at Iorza, along Tse Abiem road, where two young men, Mr. Mbaadega Vihimga and Chuku Gaku, who went to buy fish at Zebo Market near River Benue, were waylaid on their way back by herdsmen militia who inflicted them with various degrees of injuries.”
After the killings on October 14, Anawa appealed to the state and federal governments to detail security agencies to the area to save the lives and properties of the people. He assured that If security is stationed at Chembe village, Iorza settlement and Jootar village, it will go a long way in ensuring that the people sleep with their two eyes closed.
Also in his appeal, a former councillor for Ukemberevgya Tswarev council ward, Logo LGA, Jonathan Tyonongo, urged Governor Alia to lift their suspension to allow chief executives of the various local governments resume work.
Recall that the Benue State House of Assembly had approved the suspended the LG council executives in the state, including the chairmen who are the chiefs security officers in the local governments.
The councillor appealed to the state government to reinstate them or appoint caretakers who will cater for the immediate security and welfare of the people at the grassroots.
On October 13, 2023, suspected herdsmen laid siege on the Makurdi-Naka Road, killing some travellers, sending shocks down the spine of many residents.
In another development, armed robbers attacked five banks in broad daylight, in Otukpo town and killed several persons, including four police officers. While unofficial sources put the number of the deceased at 19, the police said 14 persons were killed. Among those killed was a former youth corps member, Mr. Emmanuel Uche, who just ended his mandatory one-year NYSC service with one of the banks and had just resumed work a week earlier after he was retained by the bank.
A resident, Sunday Ogah, who expressed shock at the incident, said they had never witnessed a thing like that in the past.
“The robbers turned themselves into celebrities, rode freely behind a Hilux van unhooded, attacked a police station, disarmed security personnel, went from bank to bank, engaged in a killing spree, robbed five banks successfully and headed out.
“I am still in shock that security in Benue is non-existent. These boys have completely seen us,” he said.
Another Otukpo resident, George Ede, who also expressed shock, said: “Imagine robbing about five banks in broad daylight. They were even throwing money on the streets as they were leaving. They were throwing money at people and, unfortunately, they killed a bike rider, who picked money as they were leaving.
“Imagine the former youth corps member and who was killed. After the parents trained him and at the point he would start enjoying his life and also help them, they wasted him. Sometimes, this life has no meaning to me,” he lamented.
Ede, who described Uche’s death as disheartening, unfortunate and heartrending, called on the police to do all that is possible to fish out the robbers and ensure they are punished.
Alia has condemned the armed robbery, describing it as an affront on the state. He sympathized with the families of those who lost their lives in the incident and also vowed to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to book.
“It is an unfortunate development that people who were on duty, especially police officers, were shot and killed in cold blood by those mindless robbers.
“But they cannot get away with this. Already, security agencies are on their trail and must apprehend and bring them to justice,” he said.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of police in the state, Batholomew Onyeka, disclosed that the fleeing robbers were intercepted along Otukpo-Taraku road and two were killed during a gun duel with the police.
The commissioner has, however, ordered tight security, urging all officers and area commanders to man their areas properly and ensure that the efforts of the command to maintain law and order in the state are not disrupted.