Five persons have been reportedly killed in Ayilamo town after suspected herdsmen attacked the community in a night attack on the 18th of October.
Ayilamo and Mahanga settlements are located in Tombo ward, Logo local government area in Benue state
TVCNEWS gathered that the armed herdsmen launched the attacks on the farming communities at about 10.20 pm after people settled in their houses.
Apart from the five persons who were killed at the spot, many others sustained various degrees of injuries and were referred to Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi, from Ayilamo Health Center, which was overwhelmed with the number of casualties.
An eyewitness Tersoo Apera told TVCNEWS on the phone that the killer herdsmen launched attacks on Mobile Barracks, Located on Anyiin- Ayilamo road, in Mahanga settlement, and killed two persons in a thatch house.
The victims were thereafter moved to Ayilamo, Headquarters of Tombo ward, and shot three persons dead while others escaped by whiskers but with bullet wounds.
The monarch of the area, Enoch Ikyumen, who visited the Health Centre, for first-hand information, and to see the condition of the survivors appealed to the state and Federal governments to order security agencies to protect his subjects.
Enoch Ikyumen, who was accompanied by other traditional rulers decried the sustained attacks and killing of his people and also asked other security agencies deployed to the area to protect the lives and property of his subjects.
He said their life wire of economy is farming, yet his people can’t access their farmland as herdsmen have occupied both houses and the land.
Ayilamo town, headquarters of Tombo ward, in Gaambetiev, is a farming and fishing community located near Anyiin, on the Abinse- Wukari federal highway in Benue state, and has been under sustained herdsmen attack since 2016.
The state Governor, Hyacinth Alia through his Chief press Secretary, Tersoo Kula confirms the attacks and killings, describing it as nefarious activities of herders.
He calls on security agencies in the state to apprehend those suspected to be behind the attacks and bring them before the law.
