Fresh Benue Attack Leaves One Dead

Suspected armed herders again attacked an Ondo community in the Ogboju District of Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, killing one person.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspected armed herders were reported to have invaded the Ondo community on Tuesday morning, shooting sporadically, which forced the villagers to seek safety in Oyangede.

A resident of the Ondo community who spoke with PUNCH Metro in a telephone interview on Tuesday said that the assailants stormed the community around 6 a.m.

The local, who identified himself simply as Sunny, said, “The herdsmen stormed our community around 6 a.m. today and shot sporadically, which made people flee to the neighbouring Oyangede community.

“But youths in the area mobilised themselves and went after the invaders. This prevented the assailants from wreaking havoc; nevertheless, one person was killed.”

The Otukpo Chairman, Maxwell Ogiri, who confirmed the attack in a telephone interview with journalists on Tuesday, said that one person was killed.

Ogiri said, “There is a crisis in Ondo, but it is not too much. It was repelled after the loss of an indigenous person.

“The combined security agencies are combing the forest in search of the bandits. The situation is calm. When they saw that security agencies were responding with immediate effect, there is a lot of calm.”

Meanwhile, the state command spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, could not be reached for her reaction.

The incident in the Ondo community came two days after Sunday’s attack on Otukpo Nobi in Otukpo LGA, where residents claimed that 16 people were killed.

But Edet, in a statement, said that eight people were killed and five others sustained varying degrees of injuries.