Two middle-aged men were reportedly ambushed and killed by armed herdsmen while working on their farms in Goh village, Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.
The victims, identified as Monday Orlovuu and a friend, were attacked on Thursday afternoon while harvesting crops on farms located less than four kilometres from Naka town, the local government headquarters.
A source, who gave his name as Lanshim, said the killings occurred less than 48 hours after the herders had allowed their cattle to graze on farmlands, destroying harvests in the area.
He added that the deceased had gone into the fields to harvest their crops out of fear of further destruction by the rampaging herders and their cattle.
“They wanted to save the crops they laboured so hard to plant; that was why they went to the farm to harvest the crops, but they did not make it out alive.
“The armed herders stormed the farms at the time they were working and attacked them. And unfortunately they could not save their crops, and they also lost their lives while trying to salvage what they could from the farm.
“It is rather unfortunate that this has become the lot of our people. We have been chased out of our communities, and any attempt to visit our farmland to cultivate food to feed our families is met with a bloody attack.
“So how do we survive with our families when we cannot cultivate the land?
“The government must get these terrorists out of our communities because there is no way we can accommodate bloodthirsty killers in our land and pretend that we can live together.
“All they want is to chase us away and occupy our ancestral land, and the government seems to be indifferent to what is happening to us.
“It will interest you to know that these killer herders murdered the young men shortly after the Chairman of Gwer West visited the area to assess the initial destruction of people’s farmlands by the same armed herdsmen.
“After grazing on people’s farms, they still killed two young men who were labouring in their farm.
“How long would this continue to happen to our people? Something needs to be done urgently to save our people the pain and trauma they are living with,” he said.
As of the time of this report, the police have not made any statement.
