He urged Buhari to go beyond mourning with bereaved families and direct security agencies to arrest the Fulani militia suspected of being responsible.
Following the gruesome killing of more than 134 people allegedly by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State over the last five days across three local government areas of Otukpo, Apa, and Guma, the state governor, Samuel Ortom, has stated that indigenous peoples will not be provoked into taking up arms against anyone.
Ortom called the killings "heinous and cowardly" in a statement issued on Sunday.
Ortom reiterated his call for Buhari to come to the aid of state residents.
According to a statement provided to THISDAY by the governor's Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, Ortom spoke during a condolence visit to the Mgbam community in Nyiev council ward of Guma Local Government Area, where 36 people, including internally displaced persons, were killed, last Friday, by the Fulani herdsmen, while over 40 people sustained injury.
The governor stated that the president should not only mourn with the families of the deceased, but should also direct security agencies to go all out to apprehend the Fulani militia, who had made life in the state unbearable for the people.
He claimed that the time had come for the president to act quickly, beyond words, and with concrete actions to put an end to the killings.
Ortom, on the other hand, urged the communities and their leaders to remain law abiding while also remaining vigilant at all times in order to ward off the assailants.
The governor also paid a visit to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi, where victims of the attack were being treated. Ortom, speaking to journalists after touring the wards, bemoaned the senseless killings by marauding invaders. In the last five days, he said, similar attacks by armed herders in three local government areas of the state, including Otukpo, Apa, and Guma, had claimed the lives of over 134 innocent people.
Earlier, His Highness, Bernard Shawa, District Head of Nyiev, who lost a son and a daughter in the attack, described how the assailants stormed his community around 9 p.m. on Friday night and began shooting sporadically, killing and injuring his subjects. He stated that the majority of the victims had already been displaced from their ancestral lands and were seeking refuge in a primary school near his home.
Mue Ter Ihyarev, who also spoke on Ter Guma's behalf, HRH Dennis Shemberga, expressed deep shock at the unprovoked killing of his subjects by armed herdsmen. He urged Ortom not to be disheartened by the renewed attacks on communities and urged Buhari to send more troops to troubled areas to put an end to the killings.
On Monday, April 3, herdsmen attacked the Ikobi community in Apa Local Government Area, killing 47 people, including a traditional ruler and some of his subjects.
Similarly, on Wednesday, April 5, invading herdsmen wreaked havoc on the Umogidi community in Entekpa Council Ward of Otukpo Local Government Area, slaughtering 51 people and sacking the community.
After the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, the devastating attacks by marauding herdsmen in Benue communities resumed. Some of the major flashpoints are in Kwande, Guma, Gwer-West, Logo, Apa, Agatu, and Otukpo local government areas.
Within 48 hours, the attacks had moved to the Umogidi community of Entekpa ward in Otukpo Local Government Area, killing 51 people.
From the scene of the Friday night attack, the governor commiserated with survivors being treated at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi.
Mnenna Orkega, a survivor who lost her 10-year-old daughter, told reporters that they were all asleep when they heard gunshots.
"I tried to flee through the window, but a herdsman grabbed my child and murdered her," she explained.
Others who narrowly escaped described the attack as horrific and heartbreaking.
The Benue State police command confirmed that 28 people were killed and that several others were injured by gunfire.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Catherine Anene, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), confirmed the attack at Mgbam in a brief message.
Anene stated that 28 bodies had been recovered and deposited at the hospital morgue while the investigation was ongoing.
Meanwhile, former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate for 2023 Atiku Abubakar said in a statement, “The resurgence of violence and killings in parts of the country after a lull, stands condemned.
“The attack and killing of scores of innocent citizens in Umogidi, in Otukpo LGA of Benue State, and the kidnap of dozens of young people in Wanzamai village in Zamfara have no place in our country.
“They are a reminder that a lot more still needs to be done to guarantee the security of the lives of Nigerians across the country. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased.â€
Terrorists abducted 60 people, mostly children, over the weekend in communities straddling Zamfara and Katsina states.
According to sources, the incidents occurred while the terrorists were traveling from Sububu Forest in Zamfara State to the neighboring Birnin-Gwari Forest in Kaduna State.
The victims were from the communities of Kucheri, Wanzamai, and Danwuri in Zamfara State's Tsafe Local Government Area, and Yankara in Katsina State's Faskari Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, the Sokoto State Police Command confirmed an increase in banditry in some communities in the state's Gwadabawa Local Government Area. According to the police, the situation is to blame for the rising tensions in some villages within the local council.
According to the Sokoto State Police Command's spokesman, Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanusi Abubakar, joint military operations with members of the State Police Command are underway to arrest the situation.
However, Abubakar was unable to confirm an earlier report by some media outlets about an outbreak of violence between the Fulani and Hausa communities, which claimed the lives of several people. He stated that details of the alleged violence could not be determined because joint military operations were ongoing within the local council and its environs.
According to an international media outlet, a local official, Aminu Gwadabawa, said people in the area were living in fear after a soldier was killed in the conflict.
Attempts to contact the Nigeria Army to confirm the report were futile, as calls to the spokesman of the Nigeria Army's 8th Division did not go through at the time of filing this report.
However, a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity blamed the increase in armed criminal activity in one village on informants who sabotaged the military's efforts.
“At times, villagers will call us to inform us on attack and later tell the bandits where we are coming through.
“Can you imagine? We will receive a distress call over an attack, but same villagers will call bandits to tell them where we are coming through and they would ambush us.†he lamented.
The officer warned the villagers that the military was on the scene to protect them.