Friday, 21 April 2017

UPDATED: Violence in Benue as youth protest alleged killing by herdsmen

premiumtimesng.com

The police on Thursday said a reprisal attack by suspected herdsmen on Tse Igba Uke and Aliade villages in Gwer Local Government Area of Benue has left one person dead and many others injured. Moses Yamu, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Makurdi.
He said the suspected herdsmen carried out the attack on Wednesday night, following an attack on their cattle by some people from the village.
He also said the corpse of the villager killed during the incident had been deposited at the Aliade General Hospital and the injured receiving treatment in the same hospital.
Mr. Yamu also told NAN that angry youths took to the street on Thursday, following the reprisal attack on the village and barricaded Aliade Federal highway to protest the killing of one of their own.
Aliade federal highway is a major exit route to the southern part of the country.
He, however, assured that the police personnel had been drafted to the place to quell the protest and restore normalcy.
The police spokesman, however, warned against jungle justice.
Earlier, a resident of the area told PREMIUM TIMES that two people were killed by the herdsmen, before a retaliatory attack by the youth.
“Fulani herdsmen killed two young men and in retaliation, the young men from the village organised themselves and attacked a Fulani settlement and killed one Fulani man,” a source in the area told PREMIUM TIMES.
“However, the intervention of an Air Force unit in the area that tried to stop the violence led to the death of many more villagers.”
The villagers subsequently blocked the highway on Thursday and demanded to be addressed by a federal lawmaker from the area, Mark Gbillah, who was in the area to prepare for the All Progressives Congress local government primary election.

No comments:

Post a Comment