*Broke Down Doors, Windows, Entered Rooms, Butchered Victims
*How Varsity Lecturer, Family Narrowly Escaped Death
By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
Another blood-curdling episode in the series of mass murders being perpetrated in Benue State occurred as gunmen believed to be killer herdsmen attacked Mtswenem and Akondotyough Bawa communities of North Bank part of Makurdi,the State capital, leaving at least 35 persons dead with several others sustaining different degrees of injury.
The attackers, as confirmed by residents, came into the affected communities about 12 am when the residents least expected them, on Thursday, June 12, and operated till about 2 am.
A resident of one of the communities who identified himself as Aondofa, told People&Politics that the attackers carried sophisticated weapons such as guns as well as machetes.
According to the source, the assailants came unprovoked and began to attack the residents, killing “a lot of people including women and children” while fleet-footed residents fled even as some were still missing, as of press time on Thursday.
The eye witness noted that about 35 corpses were recovered, adding that some of the injured also died on their way to hospital.
People&Politics gathered that the assailants would forcefully break down doors and windows in houses to meet their victims and then proceed “to butcher them.”
Residents of the affected and neighbouring communities are now living in fear as no one knows who will be the next victim of the blood-thirsty herders or even when they will strike.
A resident of the community who is a lecturer with Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Dr. James Aji, narrowly escaped death as he reportedly came outside his residence at that time only to discover that his neighbours were being attacked. Reports said he then quickly moved his family through the back door and escaped.
Several attempts to get the side of the State Police Command proved futile as the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Udeme Edet was yet to respond to request made to him for the purpose.
