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By, Ayoofe Aiyedatiwa
Incessant farmers-herders clash has reared its ugly head again with Over 200 people reportedly killed within a few hours, including children and women, at Yelewata, Guma LGA on Friday night.
The killers reportedly used sophisticated weapons and fuel to set houses ablaze.
In a horrifying escalation of violence, between 100 and 200 Christians were murdered by Fulani Jihadists herdsmen in Nigeria’s Benue State, according to multiple sources.
Heavily armed jihadists stormed Yelwata – a farming community in Guma County – between Friday and Saturday. They set homes ablaze and slaughtered the predominantly Christian inhabitants
Located less than five miles north of the state capital, Makurdi, Yelwata is a farming village that is 97 percent Catholic and three percent other denominations. It also hosts Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled earlier Jihadist Fulani attacks in neighboring towns.
According to Tersoo Kula, a spokesperson for the state governor’s office, the attack on Yelwata lasted about two hours and saw several houses burned down. He added that government and police officials visiting the village confirmed a lower death toll of 45.
YOUNEWS learnt that, many people are still missing, aside from dozens injured and left without adequate medical care. Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms. So many bodies were burnt beyond recognition,” said Amnesty International on X.
It is said gunmen have been “on a killing spree with utter impunity.”
Outraged by the bloodshed, the State House of Assembly, in a resolution on Tuesday, asserted that Governor Hyacinth Alia, his deputy Sam Ode, and all the 32 lawmakers had let the people down.
It may be recalled that The Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, reported that it suffered 119 attacks against the settled populations by Fulani herdsmen, between January and the end of December, 2023.
Over 400 people were killed, and more than 100 others were wounded, raped or kidnapped in attacks on settlements and farming communities in just one Nigerian state in 2023, says a report sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The report comes one month after a series of massacres on Christmas Eve that left hundreds dead in Nigeria’s Plateau State.
