Benue gov says suspected herdsmen killed policeman, others

TWO persons, including a policeman, have been killed by suspected herdsmen in a renewed attack on Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.

Reports of the cause of the attack were scanty as of the time of filing this report, but a source said the incident occurred between Wednesday and early hours of Thursday.

Reacting to the crisis, Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, said that police patrol vehicle was, on Thursday, ambushed by unknown persons at the local government.

Owoseni said the death of the men was linked to culpable homicide, saying “investigation will reveal the cause of death, but the report we have is culpable homicide.

“But this morning, a police patrol vehicle, in Guma, was ambushed and one of our men was shot, and the other one is yet to be found.”

However, the governor, Samuel Ortom, confirmed the incident on Thursday when the former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, paid him a condolence visit at the Government House, Makurdi.

According to him, “as I am talking to you now, two persons, including a policeman, have been killed in my local government (Guma). Also, a farmer was slaughtered and burnt, while many others are still missing, and the injured ones have been brought to the hospital in Makurdi.”

The governor said no one would stop him from talking until his people got justice from the killings from herdsmen.

Ortom called on the Federal Government to arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, whom he accused of threatening attacks on the state and still went ahead to carry out their threat.

Earlier, Senator Kwankwaso, who led members of his Kwankwasiya Foundation on the condolence visit, condemned the perpetrators of the attacks not only in Benue but across the country.