It happened again. Another Sunday, another wave of terror has swept through Benue State, leaving at least four mobile policemen feared dead after armed herders launched a fresh, audacious attack on the Udei community in Guma Local Government Area.
The violence, which erupted Sunday afternoon, took place less than a 15-minute drive from Yelewata, the community still reeling from a massacre that claimed over 200 lives just two weeks ago.
According to sources on the ground, the attack was a multi-pronged assault that seemed chillingly coordinated. It began around 11 am in the Asha community, where the attackers reportedly opened fire, sending farmers fleeing for their lives. The chaos then spilled over towards Ortese, home to a large camp of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), before a military team managed to engage the assailants with armored trucks, temporarily halting their advance.
But the fight wasn't over.
"In what looked like a coordinated attack, they also attacked Udei at about 2 pm, and four Mobile Policemen were killed in the shootout," confirmed Matthew Mnyan, a local community leader who was scrambling to coordinate a response. He painted a picture of sheer panic, describing how he immediately called the Divisional Police Officer to rush reinforcements to the area.
"I was told that they are still around even now," Mnyan said late Sunday evening. "They have reappeared at Ortese. As we speak, people are in fear." He explained that even as security forces mobilized, the approaching darkness was compounding the community's terror. "Even the IDPs in Ortese are all in fear and calling that they need more security," he added.
This latest bloody chapter highlights the terrifyingly persistent and mobile nature of the threat facing these communities. As of the time of this report, the official police response remains unclear. Efforts to get a reaction from the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful, as calls and text messages to her phone went unanswered.
For the people of Guma LGA, it’s a grim repeat of a nightmare they have been forced to live through time and again, leaving them to wonder when, or if, this cycle of violence will ever end.
