The intensity of attacks on Benue State communities by suspected herdsmen took a turn for the worse last Saturday with the killing of no fewer than 200 inhabitants of Yelewata, a community at the border between the and Nassarawa. The community is situated in Guma Local Government Area (LGA).
Like other Tiv communities, the inhabitants of Yelewata are predominantly farmers. The rich and fertile land is good for cultivation of different kinds of crops, including maize, rice, millet, yams and cassava, to mention a few.
A farmer in Yelewata, Thomas Iorya, who currently lives in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp opened for displaced persons at the International Market, Makurdi, the state capital, said that Yelewata came into existence more than 100 years ago.
‘Our great grandfathers lived in this town and gave birth to us. So, this is our ancestry home. We have nowhere else to go’, he said as he recalled the bloody incident reckoned to have claimed hundreds of lives.
Orya said: ‘On that very day of the attack, it was raining heavily, and shortly after the downpour, at about 11 pm, I heard sounds of sporadic gunshots coming from all directions.
‘Most of the people in Yelewata community are IDPs from other Tiv communities in Nassarawa State, who were driven away by militia herdsmen and forced to camp in Yelewata.
‘I was lucky because that very night, I slept at LGEA Primary School in Yelewata. The place is under the watch of soldiers, and that was what save me as 12 of my relations were brutally killed.
‘The gunmen, some of whom were in army camouflage, set houses on fire, burning the inhabitants, including children aged between five and six, beyond recognition’.
Attributing his survival to the grace of God, Orya said: ‘I give God the glory for my survival. But the unfortunate incident is that I lost 12 of my relations in the attack’.
He, however, said that he was not happy staying in an IDP camp in Makurdi. Hence he urged government at state and federal levels to provide him and his people adequate security so they could return to their ancestral homes and farm to feed themselves.
Orya said that even before the attack last Saturday, he had a premonition that herdsmen were coming to attack his people and he was restless.
‘The number of soldiers, policemen and Civil Defence Corps members on ground was not enough to protect Yelewata community. If we have enough security, such an attack would not have occurred, and I pray that God will never allow such attack and killings again’, he said.
But Orya was not alone. Another survivor, Mrs Stella Anshe, a 40-year-old housewife, has been lived in the emergency IDPs camp provided by Governor Hyacinth Alia for victims of Yelewata killings since last Saturday.
Recalling the bloody event that culminated in her present condition, she said: ‘On that Saturday night of herdsmen attack, we were all fast asleep after a heavy downpour.
‘Then at about 10.30 pm, we started hearing gunshots from the direction of the warehouse where IDPs from other communities had gathered themselves to sleep.
‘The gunmen must have gotten information about people sleeping in the warehouse. They shot and killed almost everyone that slept inside the warehouse and thereafter set the house ablaze’.
Anshe, who said she lost 14 direct relations in the attack, recalled children, women and old men were all gruesomely shot and killed. She also expressed concern over the poor conditions of the IDPs in the camp and called on Government agencies responsible for humanitarian services to quickly intervene to save survivors of the attack from hunger.
Asked how she escaped the attacks, she said: ‘I ran out of my house with other relatives, and the risk paid off’.
Forty-two-year-old Felix Kpum and Doko Ternenge Vitalis, who also shared similar tales, confirmed that ‘on the day of the attack, it was raining and most people were inside their houses.
He recalled: ‘The gunmen stormed the community with sophisticated weapons at about 11pm, carrying with them petrol which they poured on houses before setting them ablaze.
‘In the melee that ensued, those who attempted to escape were gunned down and cut with machetes”.
The duo of Kpum and Vitalis also said that they managed to escape because they ran out of their house and took to their heels.
Doko Vitalis said: ‘While I am currently at the camp, my pregnant wife is on admission at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, because after running and trekking many miles, she bled a lot and had to be kept under examination’.
