Benue killings: ‘We have been abandoned to our fate’ – Agonising residents recount latest ordeal

Responding to the attacks, the Idoma Association in the United States appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take immediate and decisive action to end the persistent killings in Benue South Senatorial District.

The group described the attacks on communities in Idoma land as a sustained campaign of violence that has lasted for more than a decade. 

They also termed the attacks as the “wanton slaughter, maiming and total annihilation” of the Idoma people by suspected armed herdsmen.

“With a high sense of responsibility and a bleeding heart, we are compelled to draw your attention, Your Excellency, to the wanton slaughter, maiming and total annihilation of our people, the good people of Idoma land in Benue South Senatorial District of Benue State by bloodthirsty herdsmen, a barbarism that has lasted over a decade unhindered,” the group stated.

Idoma UK Community urges Benue Govt to hunt down perpetrators

Similarly, the Idoma Community United Kingdom, ICUK, has called on the Benue State Government to work with security agencies to identify, apprehend and prosecute those responsible for the recent deadly attacks on communities in Otukpo and Ohimini local government areas of the state.

The call followed an emergency meeting of the diaspora group held on Sunday in response to the attacks, which claimed several lives and left many residents displaced.

In a communiqué signed by the President of ICUK, Chief Dr. Williams Obande, the community strongly condemned what it described as the brutal killings of innocent Idoma people and urged the government to ensure those behind the attacks are brought to justice.

“We strongly condemn the brutal killings of innocent Idoma people and call on the Benue State Government to work closely with security agencies to identify, apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of these heinous crimes,” the communiqué read.

Speaking to DAILY POST, one of the protesters at the Och’Idoma palace, Ojima Inalegwu revealed that 16 people were killed in Otukpo Nobi, including her sister and two children.

“I am in great pain. As I speak to you now, I’m drenched in tears. I lost my only sister and her two children. 

“The question I have been asking is, ‘When will all these end?’ It appears the Federal and state governments have left us to our fate. It’s quite unfortunate,” she lamented.

Another teary protester, Anebi Ogwu, recounted that a three-year-old infant’s head was shattered while on the back of his fleeing mother, and a seven-year-old who was sweeping the front of the local church around 5am was gunned down, just as the clan head of Ai-Ochaikpigwu, Ebegidi Ukwenya, almost 90 years old, was shot on his arm and stomach.

“Before the attack, one Fulani young man boldly made a viral video, threatening that they were coming to attack the Idoma nation. Instead of the government taking pro-active measures, it did not. 

“Maybe it’s because this thing has not happened to any of these top government officials, that’s why they did not feel it,” he said.

Another native simply identified as Olotu blasted all the Local Government chairmen of the Benue South over their ‘non-challant attitude’ towards the tragic attacks that are almost becoming a routine in the Idoma nation. 

He said, “Remember when the Benue MACBAN president was murdered. All the Local Government chairmen were running helter-skelter to television and radio houses, condemning the act. 

“I’m not justifying the killing of the man. But now that scores of Idoma sons and daughters are being gruesomely killed in cold blood, they have all gone to their shells. Shame on them,” he said.