Fulani Herdsmen Kill Two Policemen In Benue

Two mobile policemen, who were drafted to maintain security were killed, on Monday, and another one severely injured after their camp was attacked by herdsmen at Awashuwa village in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

The latest killing in Logo came hours before Governor Samuel Ortom met behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Tuesday morning.

The Daily Sun gathered that the herdsmen had, earlier that day, attacked the camp of a detachment of Mobile Policemen from Mopol 13 stationed at Awashuwa in Logo, but they were repelled only for them (herdsmen) to regroup and attack the camp in the evening.

According to one of the policemen who survived the attack, the herdsmen, who came in large number in an ambush form, swooped on the camp and overpowered the policemen and then injured an Inspector and a Sergeant before they slit their throats in a nearby bush in the area. The herdsmen also reportedly burnt some houses within the area after the attack.

One other policeman, who was severely injured, was stabilised at Anyii community before he was moved to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), in Makurdi, while the remains of the deceased policemen were being evacuated to the mortuary, in Makurdi.

By Tuesday morning, men of the Benue State Police Command, who went on an aerial surveillance operation, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, DCP Abdul Gimba, had a stopover at Awashuwa town, while the corpses of the slain policemen were evacuated.

“Our men came under attack at Awashuwa in Logo Local Government area of the state. They were ambushed by the herdsmen who had tried to attack them earlier in the day but they were repelled. Two of our men were killed and their riffles taken away.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Moses Yamu, who confirmed the report, disclosed that a reinforcement was sent to the area from 13 PMF led by the Commander, CSP Abubakar Garba.

Meanwhile, a traditional ruler in the area, Chief Terkuran Suswam, has described the herdsmen attack on the Benue communities as ‘horrific, barbaric and a genocide against a people’.

The traditional ruler who is elder brother to former governor Gabriel Suswam, while noting that he had over 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) across six wards in Logo taking refuge in his community, in Anyii, regretted the loud silence from President Muhammadu Buhari while Fulani kinsmen have continued to kill defenseless Benue people.

In the words of the monarch, “This is most horrific, Barbaric and genocide against a people. Why will some people not want others to exist in a country? Why the loud silence from the President? This is more than terrorism. If you are talking of agriculture and the people cannot even go to farm, what kind of agriculture are you talking about?”