Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Governor, Terve Akase, has said numbers of persons who have lost their lives in the new year attack in the state has rising to 71, this is between December 31 to January 6 to killings by the Fulani, the figures is yet to be verify.
Sources say, "The attacks happened in very remote villages. Now, with security operatives on the ground, villagers have been going about the bush to pick up more corpses”Akase said. A total of 71 people have been killed in a week of violence in Benue State, a government spokesman said on Monday, much of it involving clashes between Fulani cattle herders and farmers.
The killings endanger efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to bring security and stability to Nigeria a key campaign pledge when he ran for election in 2015. Muslim herdsmen, mainly of the Fulani ethnic group, and Christian farmers often clash over the use of land in remote areas of the Middle Belt region .
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris has said more police would be deployed to Benue state to deal with the violence. Meanwhile Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Monday, declared a three day mourning for the 59 dead victims that were killed in recent attacks on communities in the Logo and Guma Local Government Areas of the state by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
Ortom stated that the mourning period would be from today, Tuesday to Thursday this week and end with a church service for the victims at the IBB square in Makurdi, followed by a mass burial. This was disclosed in a statement issued by Akase in Makurdi on Monday.
The governor directed that all offices must fly their flags at half mast within the mourning period while work would close at 1pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. The statement added that Thursday had been declared a work free day to enable workers attend the burial service and internment of the victims.
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