Fifteen people killed in Efeyi-Utikpi, Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State, have been given a mass burial following a July 28 attack on the community.
The victims, including women and children, were killed when suspected armed herders attacked the farming community in the Ugboju District.
According to AIT, residents gathered on Saturday to bury the victims amid grief and renewed calls for stronger security in Benue’s rural communities.
The attack reportedly destroyed homes and left residents traumatised. Community leaders urged the federal and state governments to provide effective protection for vulnerable farming communities.
A representative of Equipping the Persecuted, a United States-based non-governmental organisation, reportedly announced financial assistance for bereaved families and local vigilante groups.
The burial came less than three weeks after another attack in Otukpo-Nobi, where eight people were buried after an assault on July 12. Police said five adults and three children were killed in that incident.
Benue Commissioner of Police Cletus Nwadiogbu described the Otukpo-Nobi attack as a terrorist attack, saying the assailants used guerrilla tactics before fleeing into nearby forests.
In a separate development, a farmer in Mbagena Council Ward of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area reportedly abandoned his farm after suspected local bandits demanded N500,000 before allowing him to harvest his crops.
The farmer’s son, John James, disclosed the incident during a workshop organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project in Makurdi.
James said armed men invaded his father’s home about two weeks earlier and demanded the money. He said the men later abducted his mother after his father failed to meet the initial deadline.
According to James, his father paid N200,000 and was allowed to harvest part of his groundnut, beniseed and soybean crops. The attackers then reportedly demanded another N300,000 before he could access the remaining produce.
He said his father fled the community, leaving the crops behind, and claimed that other farmers had suffered similar attacks but were reluctant to report them to police for fear of reprisals.
The Benue State Government has repeatedly directed security agencies to intensify operations in affected communities, while Governor Hyacinth Alia has called for displaced residents to return safely to their ancestral homes.
