Three days after the Chief of Army Staff gave soldiers stationed in the Birnin Gwari axis of Kaduna State to flush out armed bandits that have been terrorising and killing people in the area, 8 persons were killed in three villages in the area in the early hours of yesterday.
Sources in the area said the attack happened shortly before the early morning Muslim prayers.
A source in the area who does not want to be named for fear of being targeted by the bandits said the three villages that were attacked included Mashigi, Dokoru and Sabon Wuri .
According to the source, apart from the eight persons that were killed, the bandits also stole cows and over ten motorcycles.
The source said four people were killed in Mashigi and two each where killed in Dokoru and Sabon Wuri villages during the attack by the armed bandits.
Also, no fewer than three persons were feared dead while scores sustained serious injuries in an early yesterday morning attack on Ukemberagya community, Gaambe-Tiev council ward of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State by suspected militant herdsmen.
The attackers also set ablaze several houses, huts and food barns in five villages in the affected community.
The latest attack came barely 24 hours after Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo visited the local government area to commiserate with victims of herdsmen attack in the area who now reside in IDPs camp at Anyiiin.
It was gathered from a source in one of the affected communities that the armed militia herdsmen stormed the council ward at about 6:30am shooting sporadically and razing the besieged villages.
“They came around 6:30 this morning, shooting and razing our homes, farmlands and food barns at Tse-Mue, Torkaa, Mgbakpa, Torjem and Ifer villages.
The operation lasted till about 9:00am when they pulled out in their usual hit and run style.
“It was after the attackers had left that we managed to enter the village and our farms to search for our loved ones who were missing. As at the moment, we have recovered the corpses of three persons including those of Bem Torjem, Apedzan Chia and Akpuku Koya which have been deposited at the mortuary in Anyiin. The injured are also receiving treatment in the hospital and clinics in the area.
“The incident happened at a time when farmers were on their way to the farms. As we speak there is palpable fear in neigbouring communities because the affected villages have been deserted as people are fleeing in droves to seek safety in those villages.
“We are still searching the bushes because many others are still missing and unaccounted for, especially our children and women so casualty figure may increase but we pray it doesn’t.”
Another eyewitness, told newsmen that those killed in the attack were returnees from the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs camp at Anyiin who were sacked from their homes in January.
“They just returned from the IDPs camp at Anyiin to try and gather themselves and their families to find their footings since security personnel had given assurances of the safety of the communities.
“Unfortunately, after running away from their ancestral homes for over four months, some of them have fallen victim to the murderous armed herdsmen.”
When contacted, the Logo Local Government Council Chairman, Mr. Richard Nyajo, who confirmed the attack, said the matter had been reported to the police, the adviser to the governor on security and the state governor.
According to Nyajo, “the attack took place this morning just when the people were moving to their farms. So far, three bodies have been recovered from the attacked villages and the search for several missing persons is still ongoing.”
At the time of filing this report, Governor Samuel Ortom was holding a crucial security meeting with heads of security agencies in the state.
However, Benue state Commissioner of Police could not be reached for confirmation as he was attending the said meeting.
Meanwhile, at least, four people were killed, yesterday, in a suicide blast at an open-air mosque, in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, militia and refugee camp officials said.
The suspected Boko Haram bomber was disguised as a worshipper, detonated his explosives at a camp for people displaced by the insurgency in Dikwa, a town 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
“Early this morning a suicide bomber killed four people and injured 15 others when he detonated his explosives as people gathered to pray at the ‘1,000’ camp in Dikwa,” militia leader, Babakura Kolo said.
An official at the camp said that “the attack by a male suicide bomber happened at 5:17 am (0415 GMT).
“We lost four people in the attack and 15 others sustained injuries and are in hospital receiving medical care,” he said.
Dikwa is home to more than 70,000 displaced people from the war-torn region who live in several camps scattered across the town, relying on food handouts from aid agencies to survive.
The attack came two days after a suicide bomber killed five militia members fighting Boko Haram jihadists in the town of Konduga, which lies 35 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram’s nine-year quest to carve out an Islamic state in North -East Nigeria has led to the deaths of 20,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.
The militant group has been weakened since it controlled swathes of territory in 2014 but attacks still persist.
The jihadists frequently use suicide bombers, many of them women and young girls, to target military checkpoints, mosques, markets and other crowded places.
On May 1, an estimated 86 people were killed in twin suicide blasts targeting a mosque and a nearby market in the town of Mubi in neighbouring Adamawa State.
Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari over killings recorded in parts of the country.
The main opposition party stated that Buhari is so “incompetent” that Nigeria has become a “killing field” under his administration.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP stated that, “bloodletting has become the order of the day” under Buhari’s administration.
According to Ologbondiyan, Buhari’s government can no longer guarantee the safety of Nigerians.
Part of the statement read: “Under President Buhari’s suppressive rule, families have experienced the worst from of hardship with prices of food items, essential goods and services, skyrocketing beyond the reach of average citizens.
“Staple foods such as rice which sold at N7,500 per bag under the PDP now sells above N16,000, a measure (mudu) of garri and beans which sold at N150 and N200 now go for N400 and N500, respectively; a kilo of beef which sold for N700 now sells for N1,400; a bag of cement which sold at N1,500 now goes for N2,600, fuel price has been jerked up from N87 per liter to N145, cost of transport, medicare and other essential services have all soared by over 100 per cent.
“Under President Buhari’s incompetent administration, bloodletting has become the order of the day; our nation has become a killing field where government cannot guarantee the safety of citizens.
“It is, therefore, a condemnable slap on the sensibilities of Nigerians that instead of being apologetic for the abysmal performance of his administration, President Buhari is rather engaged in unhelpful propaganda and cosmetic media stunts.
“The fact is that the Buhari-led APC government has overstretched the forbearance of Nigerians with its crass disdain to their suffering, for which they will deploy every legitimate measure to vote him out and return the PDP, come 2019.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has rubbished claims by President Muhammadu Buhari that his government performed better than the administration of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.
PDP insisted that the “ridiculous” performance claim by the incumbent president has exposed him as the “author of series of false performance indices and propaganda in the public place”.
It would be recalled that Buhari had, last Monday, in Dutse, Jigawa State, stated that the current state of the Nigerian economy was better when compared with what obtained during the Jonathan era.
Reacting to the remark, PDP, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, last Wednesday, called on the President should apologize for his purported abysmal performance.
The former ruling party also noted that Nigeria has recorded job losses due to Buhari’s “consistent global de-marketing” of the country.
The statement reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari has exhibited the highest form of illusion by claiming that his administration has performed better in governance than previous PDP administrations.
“This ridiculous claim, which is completely irreconcilable with the harrowing economic and security realities, has exposed President Buhari as the author of series of false performance indices and propaganda in the public place, designed to beguile Nigerians ahead of 2019 elections.
“President Buhari has forgotten that despite the temporary setback of the PDP in the 2015 elections, Nigerians are still aware that during the PDP administration, with our people-oriented policies, our nation was a better place to live.
“Nigerians easily recall that during the PDP tenure, the standard of living and purchasing power of citizens were at their peaks; the private sector flourished; more businesses opened and blossomed thereby providing millions of jobs and Nigerians were more united and secure.
“Painfully, in the space of three years, the Buhari Presidency has reversed all these gains!
“It is also instructive to remind Mr. President that he inherited a robust economy, which was nurtured by the PDP to become the biggest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world, unfortunately, he has dragged us into the worst form of recession, starvation and hunger with his harsh and restrictive economic policies.”
“PDP also invites President Buhari to remember that his consistent global de-marketing of our nation led to the flight of Foreign Direct Investments, job losses and the tumbling of our naira from N165 to $1 where the PDP left it in 2015 to N360 to $1 under his watch.
“The harsh policies of President Buhari’s tenure have stifled the economy, leading to collapse of businesses, loss of over 24 million jobs in three years with another 27.44 million Nigerians refusing to work for reasons not unconnected to failure of governance.”