• Eight corpses recovered
A Tiv group known as Kwande United Peoples Organisation (KWUPO) has accused herdsmen of killing 10 persons in renewed attacks in Kwande Local Government Area on Sunday.
Addressing a news conference in Makurdi, Benue State capital yesterday, the President General of KWUPO, Mr. Levi Ikum, said the renewed attacks which began on Sunday night continued till press time on Wednesday.
He called on security agencies to intervene in the worsening security situation in the local government area located in Benue North East Senatorial District, sharing boundary with Taraba State.
Represented by the National Publicity Secretary of the organization, Hon. Kator Atsaga Anemba, who read the text of the press briefing, the group said that eight corpses of the 10 people killed had been recovered while efforts were on to recover the rest.
Anemba said the death toll would likely rise because the attackers came at midnight and opened fire on harmless villagers who were fast asleep.
“In the melee that ensued, they gunned many people down, including women and children,” he said.
Going down memory lane, he said the attacks on Kwande people by suspected herdsmen began in 2013, putting the casualty figure since then at over 6,000.
“An estimation of our losses since 2013 puts the toll in human lives at over 6,000 persons killed, over 100,000 displaced and properties worth over N4 billion destroyed.
“In Moon Council Ward, almost the entirety of the five kindred of the area have been overrun and, by conservative estimates, less than 10% of the population of the area is taking refuge at Anyiase, having nowhere else to run to.
“In Mbadura Council Ward, an estimated half of the area has been overrun and the people displaced with the entirety of Mbaav kindred overrun and the people displaced.
“In Yaav Council Ward, three out of the five kindred have been overrun by armed herdsmen and the people displaced.
“Same in Mkômon District, half of Mbaikyôr Council Ward comprising Tyuluv and Kendev-Ya wards have been overrun and the people displaced.
“Also in Anem village and Shor Asase, both in Ikyurav-Ya area, estimated half of the population has been displaced and their lands taken over by the invading herdsmen.”
The group appealed to Governor Hyacinth Alia and President Bola Tinubu to provide security personnel for Kwande people before they are wipe out of existence.
They also appealed to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), to provide relief materials to the displaced persons who they said were down with sickness and hunger.
“We also want to correct the erroneous impression that there is a clash between Kwande farmers and herdsmen. What is happening is genocide and attack against the people of Kwande by herdsmen who have taken over their land,” he said.
He called for the setting up of a military unit in Kwande, which shares international boundary with Cameroon, as a way out of the sustained attacks and killings in Kwande Local Government Area by suspected armed herdsmen.
The Benue State Police Command said it was yet to get any information from Kwande.
