No fewer than 23 people were reportedly killed in multiple weekend attacks on several communities in four Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue State.

The attacks, which occurred between Friday and Saturday morning, affected Logo, Kwande, Ukum, and Guma LGAs, our correspondent gathered.

A source told our correspondent that eight farmers were macheted to death in the early hours of Saturday in Jootar, Ukum LGA.

It was gathered that the farmers, who had spent the night in Jootar, were on their way to the farm early Saturday morning when they were attacked and butchered.

It was learnt that the location where the farmers were killed is a border community between Taraba and Benue states, and has been engulfed in a longstanding tribal crisis between the Tiv and Jukun people.

A source from Jootar said, “We cannot say who was responsible for the killing of the eight farmers this morning—whether they were armed herders or Jukun people.”

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It was reliably gathered that some communities in Ayilamo, Logo LGA, were also attacked by suspected armed herders, and nine people were reportedly killed.

Additionally, three people were said to have been killed in Kwande LGA, and another three in Guma LGA, allegedly by suspected armed herders—bringing the total number of casualties to 23 across the four LGAs.

The Commissioner for Information, Mathew Abo, who confirmed only the killings in Jootar, Ukum LGA, said that the farmers were macheted in the early hours of Saturday while heading to their farms.

Abo said, “The report I received is that eight farmers were killed in Jootar early this morning (Saturday) as they were going to their farms.
We cannot say for certain who was responsible for the killings, as the area is a border community between the Tiv and Jukun people, and there has been a crisis between the two ethnic groups.”

As of the time of filing this report, the commissioner could not confirm the killings in Guma, Logo, and Kwande LGAs.

Efforts to get confirmation from the state command spokesperson, Catherine Anene, were unsuccessful, as calls to her phone went unanswered.

She also did not respond to text messages sent to her phone at the time of this report.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE