….As Angry Youths Litter Och’Idoma Palace With Corpses, Shut All Routes To Otukpo Town
From Attah Ede, Makurdi
Fresh attacks in two separate communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen have left at least 10 persons dead and several others injured in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, prompting angry youths to protest at the Och’Idoma Palace.
The first attack took place on Saturday at Akpachi village in Ugboju council ward, where two persons were killed and several others sustained injuries.
It was further learnt that the marauders moved to Otukpo Nobi community at about 3:00 am on Sunday to attack and kill at least eight residents at sleep.
A local said that the armed herders’ invasion of Akpachi and Otukpo Nobi villages is substantially believed to be reprisal actions following earlier killings.
The source who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone in Makurdi, on Sunday on condition of anonymity, attributed the fresh attacks to retaliations for the June 26 gruesome murder of the Benue State Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Ardo Risku Mohammed, and his friend, Yakubu Isah while returning from a peace meeting in Ohimini Local Government Area of the State.
Police had earlier confirmed the arrest of 17 over persons including traditional rulers linked to the killing of the MACBAN chairman.
Reacting to these killings, angry youths from the two communities, carried the victims’ bodies directly to the palace of the paramount ruler of the Idoma kingdom, the Och’Idoma, His Royal Majesty Agabaidu Elaigwu John Odogbo, to protest the persistent insecurity.
The protesters who barricaded all roads leading to Otukpo town, demanded urgent intervention from state and federal authorities to stop the ongoing killings in Idoma land.
When contacted, the Benue State Command Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, did not confirm the development out rightly after a text message was sent to her cell but only replied, “Noted please.”
