Tragedy struck again in Benue State as no fewer than four people lost their lives while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries during fresh attacks on communities in Agatu and Apa Local Government Areas.
The deadly incidents, which occurred almost simultaneously on Monday around 5:30 p.m., reportedly took place along the Odugbeho-Ogbaulu Road in Agatu and in Edikwu ‘Icho community and Ugbokpo, the headquarters of Apa LGA. Residents say the assailants, believed to be armed herdsmen, carried out the attacks in a coordinated manner, leaving panic and devastation in their wake.
Among the victims was one Sunday Dutse, a native of Odejo community in Agatu and younger brother of a former Agatu LGA Chairman. Dutse, according to locals, had been displaced from his village following earlier attacks and had been taking refuge in Ogwule-Kaduna, also in Agatu, before he was gunned down by suspected armed herders while travelling.
Eyewitnesses recounted that the vehicle conveying Dutse ran into an ambush on the Odugbeho-Ogbaulu Road. The attackers reportedly halted the vehicle and shot him dead at close range before escaping into the bush.
In the separate but similarly brutal attack in Apa Local Government, three persons were reportedly killed in quick succession. Two young men were murdered in Edikwu ’Icho community, while another youth was killed shortly after in Ugbokpo town, further deepening the fear and displacement among residents.
“The situation is deeply distressing,” a local resident said. “People are being forced to flee their homes when they should be in their farms planting. It is clear these attacks are not random but targeted and calculated to displace our communities.”
As at the time of filing this report, efforts to obtain an official statement from the Benue State Police Command proved abortive, as calls to the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Udeme Edet, were not answered.
The repeated wave of violence in Agatu and Apa has continued to raise concern among stakeholders, with calls mounting for urgent security intervention to prevent further loss of life and restore calm to the beleaguered communities.
