About 11 people have been killed by gunmen in Benue and Kebbi communities as farmers scramble for safety.
In Benue, farmers in Ugema Community have continued to flee as armed bandits suspected to be herders invaded and attacked the Tse Ugema community in the Ukum Local Government area of Benue State, killing Six farmers and injuring scores.
A local who does not want his name in print told our correspondent through a telephone conversation that the incident started when some cattle strayed into farmlands and started destroying crops, including those in the barns.
According to him, “some youths in the area citing the cattle grazing on the crops and destroying crops barns mobilised and started pursuing the cattle out of the farms and unknowingly the herders who were hiding in the surrounding bushes opened fire on them killing six on the spot.
While the youths were pursuing the cattle out of the farms, the herders who were hiding in the bush opened fire at them, and Six of them were gunned down, while others escaped into the surrounding bushes with varying degrees of injuries, with many still missing.
“We informed men of Nigeria Army who are stationed at a village called Wuaze, which is a few meters away from the scene of the attack, through phone calls, as the attack was going on but on getting close to the scene and noticing the heavy presence of herdsmen, the soldiers turned back to their camp and did not return.”
Our correspondent gathered that the Tse Ugema village settlement is a few kilometres from Zaki Biam International Yam Market.
Efforts to get confirmation from the Police failed as the Police Public Relations Officer Catherine Anene was neither picking up nor returning her calls.
In Kebbi, armed Bandits with guns attacked and killed five persons and shot one Other in Bagiza and Rausa Kade Villages in Arewa local government area of Kebbi State.
Chairman of the local government, Hon Sani Aliyu Tela, revealed this to Leadership in an interview on Sunday.
He said that the unfortunate incident occurred in the night over the weekend when the bandits invaded the Villages, killed five in Rausa Kade, and shot one Other in Bagiza under the Arewa local government area of the state.
Hon Tela added that the deceased has since been buried in their villages according to Islamic rites. Governor Nasir Idris has paid condolence and sympathy visits to the villages where they prayed for the eternal rest of those killed by the bandits.
He urged the families of the deceased to bear the loss and received the incident as a destiny from God.
Governor Idris, however, donated N2.5 million to the Families of the deceased and another N7.5 million to the Communities to enable them to complete their Juma’at.
