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The Chairman of Ado Local Government Area in Benue State, Hon. Sunday Oche, has cried out over what he describes as a terrifying surge in armed herder attacks across communities under his council, warning that the situation is spiralling into “a new and dangerous dimension.”
Speaking to journalists in Makurdi on Monday, Oche revealed that over the weekend, armed herders launched multiple coordinated assaults on Ijigban, Ulayi, and Utonkon communities, targeting farmers, ambushing mourners, and even attacking a funeral convoy returning from Igumale.
In one particularly brutal incident, two prominent sons of the area — Philip Okpekwu and Dr Benedict Ogaba — were macheted while escorting a corpse from a mortuary. The attackers reportedly made away with their motorcycle. Okpekwu sustained life-threatening injuries and is currently fighting for his life at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital after doctors at Igumale General Hospital said his condition was too critical to manage.
“Just this morning, I received a report that Philip Okpekwu is now bleeding from his nose. His condition remains critical,” a visibly shaken Oche said.
The chairman disclosed that some herders who attacked Utonkon communities were later arrested and have agreed to pay compensation for destroyed crops, but insisted that such measures are no longer enough. “Compensation is not the solution. These attacks are becoming more daring and deadly,” he stressed.
He said his team and local security operatives have pursued fleeing attackers towards the Akparata axis of Ulayi and mounted surveillance to prevent further incursions, but the resources are clearly overstretched.
Hon. Oche has now made an urgent appeal to both the federal and state governments to immediately deploy additional security personnel to the affected communities before the situation degenerates into full-blown chaos.
As of Monday evening, the Benue State Police Command had yet to issue an official statement on the attacks.
Residents of Ado LGA are living in fear, with many abandoning their farms and some already fleeing their homes. For a council that has battled herder-farmer clashes for years, this latest wave feels like the breaking point.
Enough is enough.
