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10,000 return to IDP camps as herdsmen sustain attacks on Nasarawa villages

By Abel Abogonye, Lafia
14 April 2018   |   3:28 am
No fewer than 10,000 former Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nasarawa State have returned to some of the camps they had earlier vacated, following renewed attacks on their villages by suspected herdsmen in the southern parts of the state.

IDPs’ camp. PHOTO: hrw.org

No fewer than 10,000 former Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nasarawa State have returned to some of the camps they had earlier vacated, following renewed attacks on their villages by suspected herdsmen in the southern parts of the state.

It was gathered that the attacks on farmers in Keana, Awe, Doma and Obi Councils have led to the death of many farmers and destruction of property.Yesterday, a 29-year-old young man, identified as Israel Okeh, was attacked and killed by the marauding herdsmen along Ankoma-Doka road in Doma Council.

The victim, who hails from Gidan Rai, was said to be conveying two women on a motorcycle when the attackers ambushed and killed him, while the two women narrowly escaped.

At Udela village in Awe Council, the armed herdsmen reportedly opened fire on the locals at midnight while they were asleep, killing one on the spot, with two others severely injured.

One of the villagers, Nambe Ornguga, who narrowly escaped death in the hands of the attackers, told The Guardian that the attackers came around 1a.m. on Thursday, shooting sporadically.

He said: “I slept in the bush yesterday with my wife and four children. The militia came shooting sporadically and warning people to leave their villages, as there will be more killings.

“They had told us that we will not know peace until Benue State suspends the anti- grazing law.”A resident of Kuduku in Keana Council, John Iwar, said the herdsmen had issued an ultimatum to them to vacate their villages, vowing to take over their villages.

Reacting to the development, President of Tiv Youth Organisation in Nasarawa State, Peter Ahemba, appealled to the state government to provide security personnel in the affected communities to stop the killings. “We call on the federal government to direct the deployment of military forces in the state on a full-scale operation to flush out the armed herders, who have forcefully taken over most of the Tiv villages in the state,” he stated.

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