Dozens of villagers have been killed and several others sustained injuries in an attack on Ugbobi community in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State by suspected armed herdsmen.
It was gathered that the attack, started on Wednesday and lasted till the early hours of Thursday, displacing residents of the community and leaving the assailants to set their homes ablaze.
A community leader, Eric Amodu, disclosed that the threat of the violent attack on the community has been rife for over a week before it started last night.
“We have been living in fear and apprehension from possible attack by suspected herdsmen given their influx to the community and its surroundings. But last night, the violent attack began with our people being killed in numbers while many of them fled the community.
“Just as the residents wake up to see what is left of the community, the second round of attack by the armed herders began and as I speak, all the people I have been calling to get their whereabouts are not responding to calls.
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“We urgently need help from security operatives and the government at all levels before we are all consumed,” he lamented.
When contacted on the renewed killings in the local government area, the police spokesperson, Sewuese Anene, said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Adesina, visited Apa last week to ensure adequate troops deployment, but admit that her office was yet to get information on the latest attack.
Benue rural communities have become unsafe for farmers and villagers alike in the last couple of years due to persistent herdsmen attacks, in what has become a fashion across the state, leading to the displacement of native dwellers from their ancestral homes and farmlands.
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