The security crisis in parts of Nigeria has deepened as gunmen, suspected to be armed herders, launched a brutal attack on Afia village in Benue State’s Ukum Local Government Area, killing no fewer than 11 residents in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to Naija News, the latest assault comes on the heels of a previous massacre that claimed over 50 lives in the Ukum and Logo local government areas just five days earlier.
Speaking during a security briefing in Makurdi, the traditional ruler of Ukum, His Royal Highness Iyorkyaa Kaave, denounced the violence, labelling it a premeditated onslaught by roving herders.
He alleged that the attacks were part of a broader scheme to displace indigenous farmers and take over their lands.
“These killings began on Thursday in Logo and later spread to Ukum by Good Friday,” the monarch said.
“We are still discovering more bodies. Eleven people died on the spot, several others were wounded, and many are still missing,” he explained.
Kaave reminisced about a time when Fulani herders lived peacefully among the local communities, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, when they would migrate with their families and livestock during the dry season.
But the situation, he said, has drastically changed.
“Let it be clear to the President that today’s Fulani are not the same as those we knew decades ago,” Kaave stressed.
“The earlier groups came peacefully, but now they arrive armed with AK-47s, attack innocent villagers in their sleep, and later return to settle on the land.”
In a direct appeal to President Bola Tinubu, the traditional leader warned: “We cannot coexist with killers. These people are no longer hiding their motive—they kill, then take over the land.”
The persistent attacks have plunged communities in Benue into a state of fear and uncertainty, with no end in sight to the targeted violence against farming settlements.
