It was a Sunday of sorrow, tears and blood when suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours attacked Egba village in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, killing over 80 persons and injuring several others including women and children.
A villager, who escaped from the community, told newsmen that suspected Fulani, attacked the village at about 5am yesterday.
While the escaped villager said about 80 corpses had been found, reacting to the development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate in the state and an indigene of the area, Mr. John Ngbede, described the attack and killings as barbaric and heart rending.
He said 60 bodies had been recovered from the village at the time he spoke to his people.
Confirming the attack on the community, Benue State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hyacinth Dagala, said his men had arrived the village to restore peace.
Dagala, who confirmed the recovery of 30 bodies from the scene, said he would rely more on reports from his men, adding that the search for the recovery of more bodies was ongoing.
About nine local government areas of Benue State came under attack of Fulani herdsmen last year with hundreds of persons killed while thousands were displaced.
But just while the farmers were returning to their villages to commence farming activities last year after a peace pact instituted by Governor Gabriel Suswam, two local government areas of Agatu and Logo had again come under attack by the herdsmen this year, a development which had posed concern to the Benue people.
It was a Sunday of sorrow, tears and blood when suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours attacked Egba village in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, killing over 80 persons and injuring several others including women and children.
It was learnt that the herdsmen who stormed the village at about 4 am killed their victims, most of whom were fast asleep in their homes after which they razed the community, destroying economic trees, food barns and farmlands.
A resident, who spoke to THISDAY said the casualty figure could be higher following the disappearance of many other villagers.
“The search for victims and survivors is still ongoing, but there is no doubt that the figure may rise because the entire village is like a killing field with the stench of blood everywhere and many still missing,” he said.
He said that the assailants came from Loko in neighbouring Nasarawa State, and started shooting and breaking into people's houses and hacked down anyone they met including women and children.
“At the moment, we have been able to recover about 80 corpses and many injured. The search is continuing but we are facing a major challenge.
“Many survivors with injuries are being evacuated to hospitals, but the problem is that we do not have a hospital in this area that is big enough to cater for the situation we have at hand at the moment,” the resident who preferred not to be named said.
Reacting to the development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate in the state and an indigene of the area, Mr. John Ngbede, described the attack and killings as barbaric and heart rending.
He said 60 bodies had been recovered from the village at the time he spoke to his people.
Confirming the attack on the community, Benue State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hyacinth Dagala, said his men had arrived the village to restore peace.
Dagala, who confirmed the recovery of 30 bodies from the scene, said he would rely more on reports from his men, adding that the search for the recovery of more bodies was ongoing.
Meanwhile, the pushback against Boko Haram continued yesterday as Nigerian troops battled the insurgents, in a determined bid to retake Damasak, a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic.
A statement by PRNigeria, a media advisory for government security agencies, said the battle to recapture the town was being waged by the Nigerian armed forces in conjunction with troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroun.
Damasak is one of the thriving border towns of Borno State where farm produce like beans, pepper and tomatoes are produced in commercial quantity. It is close to Diffa in Niger Republic and was seized by the terrorists in November last year as part of Boko Haram’s campaign to create an Islamic caliphate.
The militants attacked Damasak and Ashigarchi towns in Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno in their hundreds killing over 50 persons in Damasak alone on November 15, 2014.
The sect members drove in Hilux vans and motorbikes into the town burning vehicles, houses and forcing hundreds of residents to flee to the Camerounian border towns.
Top security and military sources confirmed that the ongoing battle, which commenced yesterday, put a lie to reports last week that the town was recaptured by the forces of Niger.
Also, a statement from the spokesman of the Defence Headquarters, Major-General Chris Olukolade, said the insurgents were dislodged by the Nigerian Air Force from their hideouts in Borno and Yobe States yesterday.
He said: “Air force pounding of identified terrorists' hideouts is continuing in some locations in Yobe and Borno States as part of ongoing campaign against terror.
“Several sorties are being flown either in conjunction with ongoing ground assault by troops or to dislodge any concentration of terrorists as follow-up to intelligence reports.
“Simultaneous mop-up operations are also ongoing in the areas already operated upon by Nigerian Air Force.”
In another incident, Nigerian soldiers on Saturday detonated two homemade bombs found in a camp housing people displaced by Boko Haram violence in the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri, witnesses told AFP.
Two men suspected of planting the explosives were arrested and an investigation is ongoing, they said.
The bombs were found in the city’s Yerwa primary school, prompting panic until soldiers destroyed the bombs from a distance.
The school was converted into a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) after Boko Haram Islamists captured the town of Bama, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Maiduguri, last July.
“Two improvised bombs were found in Yerwa primary school IDP camp by the people who notified soldiers stationed nearby,” local vigilante Ari Butari said.
“The soldiers asked people to evacuate before shooting the bombs from a distance, triggering two explosions that didn't harm anyone,” he said.
“Two men were arrested on accusation that they were involved in planting the bombs. They drew suspicion because they were not known to be living in the camp,” he added.
Butari accused Boko Haram of being behind the foiled bomb attack.
His account was supported by Suleiman Yusuf, an IDP staying in the camp.
“Some people saw two abandoned black polythene bags and called the attention of our leaders in the camp who in turn informed security personnel,” Yusuf said.
“The bags turned out to contain bombs and the soldiers asked everyone to stay clear of the bombs which they detonated from a distance,” he said.
He confirmed that two men were detained after raising suspicions.
“Everyone is vigilant and once a new face shows up we all remain on the alert,” he said.
Scores of IDP camps dot Maiduguri following a huge influx of people fleeing towns and villages seized by Boko Haram, doubling the population of the city which stood at about a million people.
This is believed to be the first foiled attempt to attack any of the camps in the city.
The six-year-old Boko Haram insurgency has killed some 13,000 people and displaced 1.5 million in Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
In a swift reaction to the foiled bomb attack on the IDP camp, the Borno State Government said yesterday that it would procure more metal scanners for all of the camps scattered all over the state capital.
Speaking on the phone with THISDAY, the Chairman of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Alhaji Grema Terab, expressed surprise that some people had sold their souls to the devil and want to add to the sorrow of the already traumatised people.
He said: “These are people who have lost almost everything, and are depending on government for the basics of life. What could they have done after all their losses that someone is still interested in sending them to an early grave?”
Terab said the state government had moved to buy more metal scanners which would be distributed to all the IDP camps in the state to forestall any future attack.
Terab, who spoke from Abuja, said the purchase had been concluded and delivery would be made to the camps later in the week.
He said there was no cause for panic, as the security at the camps had been beefed up with additional security measures and guards on watch.
“We have deployed more security personnel in the camps and it would be hard for an security breach,” he explained, adding, “Saturday’s foiled attack has further woken all security operatives and has gone a long way in forcing us to add more security checks.”
(THISDAY)
