No fewer than 160 persons, including two soldiers and a popular police officer, have

been killed in Benue state in the last one month in the most horrendous attacks by armed herdsmen. The attacks, which sparked widespread outrage, aside from claiming lives, also left several communities in ruins.

Women in Benue state, therefore, took to the streets a couple of days ago, demanding immediate action from the government to end the carnage, saying the attackers were turning them into widows. This is just as Professors of Tiv extraction have advocated a resort to self-help if the government is incapable of defending the people.

A timeline of these attacks clearly gave an insight into the level of carnage and the burden the people are left to grapple with in the face of the incursions.

Timeline of attacks

Available records of the bloody onslaughts in the last month indicated that on May 2, 2025 the marauders invaded Akpete community in Apa Local Government Area, LGA, killing four persons while several others sustaining injuries and some others went missing

On May 4, the marauders reportedly killed two passengers of a commercial vehicle, after shooting the driver and abducted four others along the Adoka-Otukpo road in Otukpo Local Government Area, LGA.

On May 6, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, identified as Johnson Akaabo and six others were reportedly killed in separate attacks by the marauders in Gwer East and Makurdi LGAs.

The District Head of Odugbeho in Agatu LGA, Chief Anthony Adejoh and one other were also murdered in their farms by the marauders on May 7, at Otobi-Akpa in Otukpo LGA.

May 10 witnessed the murder of 23 persons in four LGAs of Guma, Logo, Ukum and Kwande. A breakdown showed that while nine persons were killed in Logo LGA, eight were killed in Ukum, while three were also murdered in each of Guma and Kwande LGAs.

Communities in Bururku and Gwer West LGAs were also attacked by the marauders on May 11. Seven persons were killed in that incident and many were declared missing. The Chairman of Gwer West, Victor Ormin was compelled to impose movement restrictions in the LGA after that attack.

And on May 17, another attack around Ogwumogbo and Okpo?okpolo communities in Agatu LGA left 15 persons, mostly traders on their way from market dead.

An attack on May 20 also claimed the lives of a former Ward Chairman of the PDP in Tse-Defam, Mba?akov Vengav, Avihijime Council Ward of Gwer West LGA and three others in Guma LGA.

Two soldiers and two others were also reportedly murdered in Ikobi community, Apa LGA on May 22 by the marauders.

The Catholic Priest in Charge of St. John Quasi Parish Jimba, Rev. Fr. Solomon Atongu was shot by the marauders along the dreaded Makurdi ? Naka road on May 24. He was left for dead but two occupants of his vehicle were whisked away by the armed men. The cleric who sustained serious injury in the attack has been reported to be in stable condition.

And in less than 24 hours on May 25, another multiple attack claimed the lives of 42 persons in the same Gwer West. Among those killed in the attack which was described as a genocide by the Local Government Chairman, Victor Ormin, were children, women and a popular Police Officer.

The attacks moved to Makurdi, Tse Orjime community, Agan of Mbalagh Council Ward to be precise, where three persons were murdered. Angered by the killings, youths of the community moved the bodies of the victims on foot to the home of the lawmaker representing Makurdi North in the State Assembly, Mr. Alfred Berger to register their anger.

On that same date, the marauders took over the Oweto-Apa-Adoka-Otukpo road where they shot a motorbike rider and took captive an unconfirmed number of truck drivers plying the road at the time of the attack.

And on June 2, over 46 persons were reportedly murdered by the rampaging armed herdsmen in two separate attacks on communities in Apa and Gwer West LGAs.

Come to our aid or we die ?Women cry out to govt

While tension continued to mount over the attacks and killings, the women of Apa LGA took to the streets to demand immediate action from the government to end the carnage.

The women who came together under the banner of ?The Voice of the Voiceless Women in Apa? bore placards with inscriptions such as ?Fulani stop killing our men?, ?Apa is our land and not for Fulani?, ?Apa a community of widows?, ?Government has failed us?, ?Government come to our aid or we die,? ?Fulani must go,? among others.

The group in an earlier letter signed by the bereaved women of Apa informing the authorities and security agencies in the LGA of the protest titled, ?Notification of a Peaceful Demonstration? expressed deep pain over the endless attacks on their families, homes, and farmlands by armed marauders.

They explained that they resolved to take to the streets following armed herdsmen forceful entrance into their farms, homes, and rooms ?to kill and destroy our children, husbands, and dear loved ones, including our fellow women. And today, our children can hardly go to school, our lives are in danger, our future is in shambles.?

One of the leaders of the protest who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed concern on what she termed the perceived prolonged silence of the state and federal governments over the unending attacks in the area saying ?the government?s silence is too golden.?

Lamenting the recent attack in Ankpali, she said ?in Ankpali and other parts of Apa, the herdsmen go from house to house, butchering people in such a dehumanising and cruel manner. The government must rise up to its responsibilities and put an end to the gruesome murder of our loved ones.? She warned that the marauders were creating a community of widows in the area if nothing was done to stop them.

It?s a protracted tragedy reflecting deeper national wound ?Humanitarian consortium

Meanwhile, a humanitarian consortium under the aegis of the Benue Relief, Emergency Support, Protection, and Essential Services for the Displaced, BENUE-RESPONSE, has described the frequency and intensity of the attacks in state as a sustained terror.

Addressing the media in Makurdi on behalf of the Consortium, during the closeout ceremony of the emergency relief effort for conflict affected communities in the state, the Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu disclosed that the group carried out the humanitarian interventions in Katsina-Ala, Gwer West and Kwande Local Government Areas, LGAs of the state.

Represented by the Humanitarian and Resilience Programme Specialist, David Habba, he stated that the consortium made up of ActionAid Nigeria, Plan International, Cordaid, and Jireh Doo Foundation, which carried out 45 days of humanitarian support in the communities of the three LGAs discovered that the humanitarian crisis was far more than a temporary emergency.

He said: ?It is a protracted tragedy, one that reflects a deeper national wound. The frequency and intensity of attacks in Benue have moved from isolated incidents to what can only be described as sustained terror, displacing families, destroying livelihoods, and rupturing community life. Homes have been burned to the ground. Fields left unplanted. Futures thrown into limbo.

?Behind the numbers lie painful realities, children who have grown accustomed to the sound of gunfire, mothers carrying the weight of trauma, and fathers struggling to shield their families in places that no longer offer safety. These are not just statistics?they are people. They are Benue.?

We must resort to self-help ?Forum of Tiv professors

Besides, Benue born Professors of Tiv extraction under the aegis of Forum of Ayatutu Professors who also expressed outrage over the armed herders? incursions and killings in the state advocated the resort to community approach to security and self-help to tackle the menace

The group of academics in a statement at the end of an emergency meeting in Makurdi, signed by the Chairman, Board of Trustees and Council of Management, Prof. Tor Iorapuu, and Secretary, Prof. Simon Irtwange stated that the call became necessary given the failure of government to protect the lives and property of the people of the state.

The group stated that ?pursuant to the aims and objectives for its formation, the Forum of Ayatutu Professors met and discussed the ongoing killings in Benue State by the marauding armed herdsmen and their sponsors for purposes of Islamization, land grabbing, disruption of the economy, the culture and education of the people, mining of minerals among others.

?The Forum acknowledged that despite the efforts of the various tiers of Government, they have failed in their responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the Tiv people and Benue State citizens in general. The Forum agreed that in the immediate, there is the need for a community approach to security, self-help, but it must be within the framework of careful post-conflict management of its complexities.

?There is a need therefore to mobilize and organize our people to defend their lives, land and the future well-being of their children. We must defend against ambitious land grabbers working in cohorts with some power-seeking, disoriented, ambitious but self-centered politicians and traditional rulers.?

Military look the other way as marauders commit atrocities??Catholic Priests allege

Alarmed by the spate of attacks in the state, the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association, NCDPA, Makurdi Diocese lamented that its Diocese recorded over 50 deaths in the attacks while 15 Church parishes were shut in one month of the attacks by armed herdsmen in the Diocese.

The Makurdi Diocese Chairman of NCDPA, Revd. Fr. Joseph Beba, who condemned the gruesome murder and injury of the defenceless victims lamented that the military personnel in some of the affected communities allegedly looked the other way while the marauders committed the atrocities. According to him, ?among those affected in the attacks were Catholic Priests and it has led to the shutdown of 15 parishes in Makurdi Dioceses alone.?

Leading a team of government functionaries and security chiefs to Apa and Gwer-West LGAs for on the spot assessment of the situation, the Chief of Staff to the Governor who represented Governor Hyacinth Alia lamented the level of carnage perpetrated by the armed men in the affected communities assuring that those behind the attacks would not go scot-free. Same assurance was given by the Benue State Police Commissioner, Ifeanyi Emenari, who disclosed that matching orders have been issued to police personnel to go after the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Army Chief?s visit to troubled communities rekindles hopes

Meanwhile, the news of the relocation of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oloyede to Makurdi early in the week with his Principal Staff Officers, PSO, with the purpose of taking decisive action to put an end to the bloodletting in the state has rekindled hope among the people about a possible end to the attack in the shortest possible time.

The army Chief who had already met behind closed doors with Governor Alia was reported to have also visited some of the troubled communities to see the situation for himself ahead of marshaling plans to confront the marauders head-on.

Speaking on the state of insecurity in Benue state, a social commentator and Secretary of the Campaign for Equal Rights and Opportunities for all Nigerians, CERON, Mr. Francis Odiir has urged Governor Alia to rethink the decision of his government to relax the strict enforcement of the Benue Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 saying the decision allowed herders free access to the state leading to their seeking dominance and control in the communities.

?That is what has led to the rate of attacks we are witnessing presently. If you go to the communities you find these people everywhere wielding guns. And any slight provocation or even none at all, they open fire on innocent people. I will advise that the government ensure total enforcement of the grazing law.

When that is done some form of sanity will start returning to the communities because they will have no choice but to start to move out. And I will appeal to the military to assist the state government to enforce the law because if they do not get that needed support, it will be an exercise in futility.? (Saturday Vanguard)

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