Benue: Two farmers are killed by bandits

According to reports, robbers have slain two farmers who were uprooted from their ancestral houses in the Umogidi village in the Entekpa Council ward in the Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

In a fresh assault, the bandits reportedly injured two more people and kidnapped one more.

The deceased had recently left their homes after a similar incident, according to locals who spoke on the condition of anonymity. However, they had chosen to travel to their farms in Umogidi when they were killed on Tuesday.

The other two were believed to have been hurt, and the remaining three were stated to have been in their farms when the bandits assaulted them and took one of them away.

On Thursday, during a phone interview with journalists, a local informed them that the robbers were now requesting N5 million as ransom for the victim they had kidnapped.

“All of these victims are IDPs who went to get food in their farms and were attacked by the same armed herders who chased them away from home in the first place.”

In a phone conversation with reporters on Thursday, Otukpo LGA’s caretaker chairman, Alfred Omakwu, confirmed the occurrence and stated that the victims were internally displaced people who had gone to a farm on Tuesday but had been attacked.

He said that on Wednesday, the bandits launched another attack on Upu, a village in Otukpo, but were repulsed by soldiers who fought them in a gunfight that lasted from the afternoon until seven o’clock at night.

Omakwu said, “The IDPs are camped in St. Charles Primary School, while most of them as they are going to their farms to fetch farm produce, rented one room for their family to stay in Adoka central.

“They (victims) left Adoka where they were taking refuge and went to their farms at Umogidi when they were attacked. Two of them were killed.

“Yesterday (Wednesday), there was another attack in Upu village. They (armed invaders) opened gunfire in the village, the soldiers were there, so they engaged them and chased them to the bush. They exchanged gunfire till 7 pm, and they (armed invaders) ran away. There was no casualty.”

Catherine Anene, the spokesperson for the state command, was not reachable via phone, therefore attempts to gain a response were unsuccessful.