Suspected herdsmen behead councilor-elect, cousin in Benue

SUSPECTED herdsmen, on Thursday, beheaded a councillor-elect and his cousin in Orokam, a community in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State. 

The killing of the two family members has created tension in the council area as youths have continued to protest the incident. 

The councillor-elect, whose name was given by locals as Paul Ojile, had gone in search of a kidnap victim alongside his cousin, hunters and members of a vigilance group when the two were killed. 

The chairman of Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Samuel Onu, confirmed the incident to newsmen on telephone on Friday. 

He said Paul and his cousin were beheaded. 

Onu explained that the two family members had joined conventional and non-conventional security men in search of a kidnap victim. 

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Kidnapping in the area, according to the chairman, is being perpetrated by Fulanis. The council boss said: “There was a kidnapping yesterday. Actually, in the last three days, the herdsmen have been troubling the area. There have been incessant cases of kidnapping in the local government. 

“They left from one community in Owukpa and they went to Orokam. On their way, they kidnapped one man. The councilor-elect, who lives in the village, is a hunter. He, his cousin, other hunters, the vigilantes and ‘Operation Zenda’ operatives had entered to the forest to see if they could rescue the man that was kidnapped. 

“It was when they returned yesterday (Thursday) that they noticed that two of them were missing. They were able to arrest two herders. 

“It was this (Friday) morning that they found the bodies of the councilor-elect and his cousin. They had been beheaded. 

“The arrested herdsmen have been taken to Makurdi by Operation Zenda,” Onu said, adding that the traditional heads of Owukpa and Orokam have been appealing to the youths that were blocking the roads in the area. 

“We have all been talking to them. It is a little bit calm now,” the chairman said. 

The police in the state said they were yet to get the report, according to the Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene