Details have emerged on how violence erupted in Anwule village in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State, after a Fulani herder was murdered by some suspected locals late August.
The herders, in what appeared to be a reprisal, recently launched a counter-attack on the villagers, killing three villagers with one still missing.
According to security sources, some villagers attacked heads of cattle, killing a young boy herding one of the heads.
The sources claimed that the boy’s body had yet to be recovered.
One of the sources continued, “While tension was still high between the villagers who felt that the herders strayed into their farms, and the herders who were still searching for the corpse of the missing shepherd, some villagers attacked another group of herders on Monday morning, killing several cattle and a herder.
“By Tuesday, the herders regrouped and launched a counter-attack on the villagers. The Army Forward Operating Base in Otukpo was alerted. However, before the soldiers arrived at the location, the suspected herders had killed three locals identified as Simon Nbach, Adoya Ejigai, and Ejeh Loko,” one security source claimed.
“The troops helped to recover the remains of Nbachi, who was said to be the pastor of Flaming Fire Ministry in the village alongside others,” the source further stated.
The source who described the killing of the pastor as “mere coincidence and pure collateral damage”, said there was no way his assailants could have known if he was a pastor or not.
He disclosed that the Special Adviser on Security to the State Governor, Father Hyacint Alia, Hon. Joseph Har and the council chairman, Hon. Gabriel Adole, had visited the affected community, and appealed for calm.
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