Benue: Where attacks, killings by armed herders have become a way of life

Benue map

Widespread outrage continues to trail the incessant killings in Nigeria, particularly in Benue State, where armed marauders have intensified violent attacks on rural communities.

The situation has attracted global condemnation, with United States President Donald Trump threatening to authorize air strikes to halt the killings of Christians in parts of the country.

Despite this international attention, the attacks have not abated. Instead, the perpetrators appear emboldened, launching fresh assaults on vulnerable communities in Benue State. However, the attacks had no religious undertones but just armed herders attacking indigens.

In the aftermath of the Yelewata massacre, which reportedly claimed over 200 lives in a single attack, President Bola Tinubu issued firm directives to security agencies to end the violence.
Unfortunately, these orders have yielded little success. The state has continued to witness a disturbing escalation in attacks, leaving residents traumatized and fearful.

Security operatives have also paid a heavy price. Several officers have lost their lives while attempting to defend communities from heavily armed assailants.

Observers say the attackers seem determined to drive indigenous people from their ancestral lands, fueling suspicion of a calculated campaign to take over Benue territories.

This troubling trend has persisted and in the last one months no fewer than 17 deaths were recorded in attacks launched on Benue communities.

Available records indicated that on October 18, armed herdsmen reportedly seized farmlands and residential areas in the Dyom settlement of Ukum Local Government Area. Witnesses say camps were set up, and locals were forcefully displaced.Barely nine days later, on October 27, tragedy struck along the Otukpo-Ohimini axis. A personnel of the Nigeria Forest and Hunters Services, Abechi Oche, and Police Inspector Akpan Ogbole of Operation Zenda were killed in a stop-and-search duty.