Many persons have been feared killed in Ugbobi community of the Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, following a coordinated attack on the community by suspected herdsmen.
The attack, it was gathered, started on Wednesday and did not stop till the early hours of Thursday.
A community leader, Eric Amodu, told Newsday that the threat of the attack on the community has been rife for over a week before the violent attack started last night.
He said, “We have been living in fear and apprehension from possible attack by suspected herdsmen given their influx to the community and its sorroundings. But last night, the violent attack began with our people being killed in numbers while many of them fled the community.
“Just as they (residents) made to see what is left of the community, the second round of attack by the armed herders began, and as I speak, all the people I have been calling to get their whereabouts are not responding to calls.
We urgently need help from security operatives and the government at all levels before we are all consumed.”
When contacted on the renewed killings in the local government area, the police spokesperson, Sewuese Anene, said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Adesina, visited Apa last week to ensure adequate troops deployment, but admit that her office was yet to get information on the latest attack.
Benue rural communities have become unsafe for farmers and villagers alike in the last couple of years due to persistent herdsmen attacks, in what has become a fashion across the state, leading to the displacement of native dwellers from their ancestral homes and farmlands.