15 villagers killed in Benue

At least 15 people have been reportedly killed by armed invaders in some villages in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State.

Villagers said on Thursday that the fresh attacks happened in Akpete, Inyapu, Ijaha and Ugbobi villages of Apa LGA within three days during which the 15 persons were killed and others seriously injured.

The villagers disclosed that five people were killed in the affected villages on Tuesday with another two killed on Wednesday and eight on Thursday morning.

A youth leader in Apa, simply identified as Oche, noted that two people were killed in Ugbobi and two in Akpete Inyapu on Tuesday, while one was killed in Ijaha, leaving others severely wounded.

“Five people altogether were killed on Tuesday. There is no reason for these attacks. Our people in the village would be in their homes and armed herders will just enter the bush and begin to shoot and attack them. They are just killing our people anyhow,” Oche said.

Also, Barrister Eche Akpoko, who is the Chairman of the Apa Development Association, worried that people in his locality could no longer farm due to the incessant attacks.

Akpoko said, “Attacks has become a routine and this time around, they have no regards for children or women. You can imagine just a young lady who was hungry and went to farm to pick tubers of yam was butchered. They don’t allow people go to farm again; you can’t dare step out.

“We can’t even give an accurate figure now because when tension douses, people will now begin to pick corpses and that is the one they can stumble on. The ones they don’t see is as good as lost in action. It is always difficult for us to immediately estimate the number of casualties.”

The lawmaker representing Apa Constituency at the state House of Assembly, James Abu Umoru, regretted that there were no explanation to resurgence of killings in the area.

Umoru said, “About 95 percent of my constituents have been displaced. Nobody is in most of the villages. It’s a pathetic situation. Every day, every night, they are killing people.

“The entire Edikwu community has been displaced. Endire Opaha where I come from, nobody in is that commuty. Odugbo, nobody is there; Akpete, Ikobi, Akpata, Idiaha, Ochumekwu, Adiga nobody is in those communities.

“Every day, they will be burning houses in Akpete. As I speak to you, for three consecutive days, they have been going to Akpete and burning houses after chasing them out of their ancestral homes.

“They have been laying in ambush, killing people; one, two, three to five persons on a daily basis. Right now I don’t know the number of casualties. It’s so many.

“I have gone to my communities to sympathize with my people and because of the killings, I have developed a problem that I have to go to the hospital to check myself.

“The killings are terrible. Even yesterday (Wednesday), on the highway around Nasarawa Toto leading to Oweto up to Otukpo, between a village called Ojantele and Orozo, herders put their cows on the road for three hours, no movement such that the Hausa people who travel on these big trucks came down and was talking to them before they barricaded the road.

“It is a pathetic situation. I don’t know what to do. I’m speechless. Sometimes I ask myself why should I contest? I can’t go with my personal resources to go and do anything anywhere. If people are not happy or settled how do you impact on their lives? How many people can you feed? If they are in their villages, it’s very easy for you to reach them, but if they are not there, how can you take a solar system there?”

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Benue Command, SP Catherine Anene, said she was yet to get any report about the incident.