Suspected Armed Herders Invade Benue Community, Kill 2, Injure 1, rustle over 40 Cattles

From Attah Ede, Makurdi 

Armed Fulani herdsmen suspected to be cattle rustlers, on early hours of Thursday, invaded Okpafie community in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, killing a cattle owner, one other and injuring another person  before rustling over 40 cows.

It was gathered that the Okpafie community, precisely Oyilawu in Okonobo ward, have been deserted after it came under attack by the  suspected herders, resulting in the death of one  cattle rearer from the community identified as Mr Benjamin.

A member of the Okpafie community who identified himself as Tom Idoko Ph.D, in a text message to our correspondent in Makurdi, stated that  youths of the village were watching the world cup match between Senegal and Belgium, when the Marauder came to strike.

According to him,  members of the Community Vigilante group who engaged the rustlers in a gun battle  at Aidogodo killed one of them, while one other escaped with gunshot wounds.

The executive chairman of Okpokwu local government council, Mr. Inalegwu Adah, also confirmed the ugly development, saying  that two people were killed, while several cows were rustled.

He explained that  some cattle rustlers numbering about 12, all heavily armed with Ak47, at about 1:00 am on Thursday, invaded Okpafie village in Okonobo council ward in Okpokwu local government to rustle cows.

According to him, the herders first neutralized the  cattle owner before  gaining access to the cows, having made several attempts in the past and the owner repelled them. 

 “When they took the cows, our local people made some calls and were able to establish contact with the local vigilantes for help. Along the line, the vigilantes engaged them in a gun battle around Okpoga, Ai-dogodo area and in the process, two persons were shot and one of them died as a result of gunshot wounds. 

Mr. Adah insisted that  the  party identity of  those who usually come to rustle cows from the community  have been revealed as  Fulani herdsmen, stating that this latest incident made it the third time they have invaded the area to carry out such ugly act this year.

“The first time they came, we caught one of the cattle rustlers and he provided us with information about those who usually rustled cows and told us how to assist the community and security operatives to arrest them.

We have been following them and we got two of them and have arrested them. They are at the State CID as we speak and have admitted that they are cattle rustlers. 

“Those that came this morning are still in the bush and we are still trailing them. The police and army are still trailing them and we hope to get them.

The soldiers and other security operatives have gone to the village where the incident occurred and they have given assurance that this would not happen again”, Adah stated. 

He announced that arrangements have been concluded to set up a standby force in order to prevent  criminal elements from coming to attack the communities and carry out their nefarious acts.

” We are trying to have a standby force because what we gathered now is that, if we had a standby force yesterday, we would have been able to repel these rustlers this morning. So, we are putting up a structure to prevent reoccurrence of this incident. We are going to have a standby force and this thing will not happen again. 

“These people used the route from the boundary between Ado, Okpokwu and Ebonyi State. They are in a community called Ezza-Igbo. Their numbers that we have tracked indicated that they are in Ezza-Igbo in Ebonyi State”, the chairman lamented.

When contacted, the Benue State command police public relations officer PPRO DSP Udeme Edet, said she could comment on the matter at the moment, saying that she was attending a lecture and promised to call back. 

She was yet to call back as at the time of filing this report.