Suspected armed herders on Tuesday killed two farmers who were displaced from their ancestral homes in Umogidi community in Entekpa Council ward in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.
It was gathered that two others also sustained injuries, while one farmer was reported to have been kidnapped.
Our correspondent learned from natives who pleaded anonymously that the deceased and others were among those who fled their homes recently as a result of constant attacks.
Unfortunately, they were said to have returned to their farms in the community when the armed herders attacked them.
According to one of the natives who spoke to newsmen on the phone on Thursday, “They (bandits) are now demanding N5 million as ransom for the kidnapped victim.
“All of these victims are IDPs who went to fetch food on their farms and were attacked by the same armed herders who chased them away from home in the first place,” one of the locals, preferring anonymity, said.
The caretaker chairman of Otukpo LGA, Alfred Oketa Omakwu, confirmed this to newsmen on Thursday, adding that the victims were IDPs who went to the farm on Tuesday but were attacked.
He confirmed the killing of two people, adding that the bandits again attacked another village, Upu in Otukpo, on Wednesday but were repelled by soldiers who engaged them in a gun battle from the afternoon until 7 pm.
The chairman noted that there was no record of death in the Wednesday attack because of the swift response by soldiers.
Omakwu said, “The IDPs are camped in St. Charles Primary School while most of them, as they are going to their farms to fetch farm produce, rented one room for their family to stay in Adoka Central.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), there was another attack in Upu village. They (armed invaders) opened gunfire in the village.
“The soldiers were there, so they engaged them and chased them to the bush. They exchanged gunfire till 7 p.m., and they (the armed invaders) ran away; there was no casualty.
Efforts to get the reaction of the State Command Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, were not successful as her phone did not connect.
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