Survivors recount disaster when shepherds nearly wiped out a large family in Benue
Survivors of an attack by suspected Fulani shepherds in Tse Angband on the Adaki axis, Makurdi suburb, told their stories on Friday night, according to The PUNCH.
They told bloody stories of how a large family was almost destroyed in the attack.
As a result of the attack, the head of the Amberga Aqua family, her younger brother Innocent Aqua, the son of Terhemba Aqua and a father-in-law named Orban were killed.
Aqua’s daughter-in-law Veronica, who is nursing her mother, was wounded in the leg and taken to Benue University, Makurdi, along with Ephraim Aqua and Afus Aqua, who were also injured.
One of the survivors, Afrous Aqua, cried violently when he told our correspondent at the university hospital about the incident on Saturday.
He said: “They (the attackers) were Fulani shepherds and killed our family. They killed my father, my brother, my uncle and the man who married my sister; they finished us off. “
He added, “It was around 23:30 when we started to hear shots all over the village. When the sound of the shots got louder, we entered the house, but suddenly we saw that some of them were talking to Fulfulde, and they entered the house and opened fire on us; they killed six people.
“They killed almost all of our family members; they were Fulani because they spoke Fulfuld. “
Also recalling the incident, Veronica said: “There was confusion everywhere because my husband was trying to figure out how we could escape. While trying to escape, they shot Terhemba (her husband). ‘
Benue State Governor Samuel Hortom, who visited the victims at Benue State University Clinical Hospital, reported the attack by innocent people.
Hortom reiterated President Major General Muhammad Bukhari’s (retd) directive to the security authorities to counter terrorists operating in the country, stressing that his administration will not surrender until the pastoral attacks on his people are over.
The governor said the state government would treat the injured.
