Tension has mounted in Jato Aka community in Kwande local government area of Benue State, where residents are fleeing, following the alleged shooting and killing of a mourner and two students of Government Science Secondary School by security men suspected to be officers of the Nigerian Army.
In a telephone interview with a community leader who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, “the incident happened Tuesday afternoon when we were returning from the burial of the kindred head of Nzaav, Yaav Council Ward, Turan District Chief Hanave Laha.
“The Army officers stationed in our area ordered one of the mourners to lie down and he obeyed and fear gripped those who were with him, seen how they were maltreating him took to their heels and the soldier open fire on them and the bullets hit some of the students who were returning from school and two of them died on the spot alongside one of the mourner identified as Iorsuur.”
“The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon when most students had closed from school. Although the two students were from different schools, I learnt that one of them, identified as Iorfa, was from Government Science Secondary School Jata-Aka.
“The development has brought fear and tension in the area where students of the affected schools took the corpses of their mates around Jato-Aka Town, calling on the federal and state governments to intervene by bringing the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book.
“The incident has paralysed commercial and school activities in Jato Aka, as members of the community have continued to flee over the presence of the heavily armed securitymen who have continued to patrol the town in trucks at high speed, a development that heightened fear among the resident,” he said.
He said the injured others are receiving treatment at NKST Hospital, Jato Aka.
A source from the Army who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the affected Students were killed by armed bandits who, on sighting their personnel, opened fire on them. In a gun battle, two of the Students who were returning from school were killed alongside another civilian by the criminals.
Efforts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) failed, as she was neither picking up nor returning calls or replying to text messages sent to her.
