Four killed, farmers fled as armed men attack Benue communities

Farmers in Anyiase and Ikyoawen in the Moon Council Ward of the Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State have continued to flee in droves following the attack and killing of four farmers who were working on their farms in the early hours of Friday in separate ambushes.

A community leader, Lawrence Akerigba, who disclosed this to Business Day in a telephone interview, explained that the armed men suspected to be marauding herdsmen carried out the attack separately in the two communities, adding that many people, including women and children, were injured while scores are still missing.

Akerigba said the attackers also killed an unconfirmed number of farmers in Anyiase before moving to the Ikyoawen community, where they shot 4 farmers who were working separately on their farms, killing 3 on the spot, even as he described both attacks as unprovoked.

He said two other persons, including a woman, were seriously injured in Ikyoawen and were rushed to a hospital in Jato-Aka; however, the man was later transferred to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, but was confirmed dead on reaching the hospital, bringing the number of those killed to four.

He informed that security personnel alongside youths are combing the bushes in search to recover more bodies.

He said that in the early hours of Friday, as more residents fled to safer areas, the attackers emerged from the bush, blocked the road at Ikyoawen Junction, opened fire on a vehicle conveying fleeing residents, and seized a motorcycle from its owner.

Akerigba described the situation as unacceptable and alleged preferential treatment for herdsmen over farmers.

He claimed that from all indications, the government is regarding herders as “first-class citizens who are even above the law,” while farmers are treated as “second-class citizens.”

Akerigba questioned the motive behind the renewed killings after the death of Ardo Risku, which occurred in a different environment.

“Farmers are only demanding their constitutional right of protection of life and property from both state and federal governments,” he said. “When one herder was allegedly killed, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Benue Commissioner of Police, and state and federal governments were quick to condemn it. This is a clear demonstration of preferential treatment for other tribes over others who are killing people on a daily basis and displacing them from their ancestral homes.”

The community leader said farmers had run out of patience and were calling on the government to protect them. “This is the season farmers are planting bambara nut, yams, and rice and harvesting groundnuts, but they cannot access their farms. Any government that fails in its responsibility to protect lives should resign,” he said. He also recalled that over 15 farmers were killed on Wednesday in Sai Community, Katsina-Ala LG, and there was no condemnation from the FG.

Efforts to get a reaction from the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer Udeme Edet failed at the time of filing this report.