Gunmen disguising as herders killed 50 people in Benue, says senator

Emmanuel Udende, senator representing Benue north-east, says suspected gunmen have killed about 50 people in some communities under his senatorial district.

Speaking on the floor of the legislative chamber on Wednesday, Udende said the gunmen “parading as herders” attacked some communities in Logo and Katsina-Ala LGAs of the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator lamented that the attacks on the communities have continued unabated till Tuesday.

“Not fewer than 50 persons have been killed in fresh attacks on several communities in Logo, Katsina-Ala LGAs of Benue state by terrorists parading as herdsmen,” he said.

“The affected communities, some of them, were recently attacked as of yesterday (Tuesday).

“The residents of the villages found themselves targeted on a daily basis by heavily armed terrorists and the toll is
staggering as they bear the brunt.

“The perpetrators have remained elusive.”

Contributing to the debate on the motion, Abba Moro, senator representing Benue south, said the compliance committee of the upper legislative chamber should ensure that the resolutions of the red chamber are implemented.

“I think the time has come – the prayers are the same all the time – urge security chiefs, urge NEMA and all that and it has not yielded the desired results. We need to be proactive on this matter,” Moro said.

“In the ninth senate, an ad hoc committee was set up to review the security architecture, which was done, but unfortunately the recommendations were not implemented.

“Some of these bandits hideout in forests, the mystery is why have we not been able to pick them from these forests.

“Let’s ask our compliance committee to ensure resolutions are implemented.”

After deliberations, the senate asked the security agencies to deploy more personnel to address “the ongoing attacks”.

The red chamber also mandated the leadership of the national assembly to meet with President Bola Tinubu and present reports and recommendations of the eighth and ninth senate on security to him.