Angry Benue youths barricade highway with five corpses of armed herdsmen victims

Angry protesters Saturday morning blocked the busy Makurdi-Lafia-Abuja highway with the corpses of three persons reportedly murdered Saturday morning in their farms by suspected armed herdsmen at Abagena and Atsom villages in the outskirts of Makurdi Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state.

The attack came less than 24 hours after two others were killed by the marauders in a separate attack at Tse Adaa village in neighbouring Guma LGA.

The protesters who trooped out in their numbers from their villages as early as 9am took over the busy road between Makurdi and Daudu, disrupting all vehicular movements from Makurdi and Abuja.

According to one of the protesters who simply identified himself as Ushahemba, the armed herders attacked the victims in their farms, killed three and took several others hostage.

He said: “Our people went to the farm this morning and at about 8:30am there were cries for help from the farms after they got attacked. There was pandemonium, people started running with their families.

“The attacks happened just about one kilimeter from the express road. They killed some of those they reached in the farm and took away some of the victims.

“Three bodies have so far been recovered while search for more corpses is ongoing because several persons are still missing.

“Our people cannot even go very far into the bush where more corpses could be discovered because no one knows where the attackers are at the moment.

“Just yesterday two others were killed at Tse Adaa village not far from here in neighbouring Guma LGA. The question is when will all these killings stop?

“And the only way the people can expressed their anger is to bring the corpses to the road to let the authorities understand what we are going through and the need to end these attacks in order to allow out people cultivate their farmland.

“The people were also asking for the Governor to come and address them before the leave the highway.”

It was however gathered that security personnel who were drafted to the community to ensure that the situation did not escalate prevailed on the protesters to open up the road.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent, DSP, Udeme Edet could not be reached for comments.