•Court denies 6 herdsmen bail
Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
No fewer than five persons were allegedly killed by invading herdsmen in Umenger, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State on Sunday night.
Daily Sun gathered from locals, who fled the area, that the affected villagers had gone to check their burnt houses in the village to see how they would be able to repair them and return home following the commencement of the military exercise, Ayem Akpatuma, in the state.
Our source, who managed to escape the attack, said, unknown to the villagers, the herdsmen were waiting in ambush for them and as soon as they approached the village, they opened fired on them, killing five on the spot.
Confirming the report, Security Adviser to the governor, Col. Paul Hemba (rtd), said two people, a man and a woman, were killed in the village by the herdsmen. He added that the invaders had taken over the whole village after forcefully evicting the locals sometime ago.
He noted that the herdsmen, who had camped on a hill, where they could monitor anyone coming into the village, saw three villagers approaching on a motorcycle and opened fire on them, killing two of them on the spot, while one of them managed to escape.
“The villagers were on a bike heading to Umenger, which is close to Gbajimba that houses the headquarters of the Exercise Ayem Apkatuma, when the Fulani herdsmen who hid on a hill, having occupied the area, attacked them, killing two of the villagers, while the motorcycle rider managed to escape,” he said.
Hemba said policemen posted to the village were complaining that they didn’t have a functional vehicle, adding that “the military had promised to go on operation there today.”
According to him, the corpses of the two victims have been evacuated to Makurdi, the state capital, and deposited at the morgue of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH).
Efforts to reach the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Moses Yamu, failed as several calls to his mobile telephone did not go through at the time of filing this report
Meanwhile, a Makurdi Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday denied bail to six herdsmen who were arrested over the New Year Day attack in Guma and Logo local government areas of the state.
The six accused persons, Ibrahim Saleh, Jibrin Adamu, Magaji Yau, Ibrahim Abubakar, Useni Bala and Sabin Yau, who were first arraigned on Friday, January 5, 2018, before Chief Magistrate Isaac Ajim, were remanded in prison custody till March 4, 2018.
The accused persons were charged for culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, mischief by fire, grievous hurt and violation of the Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017.
They were also arraigned for openly grazing their cattle on farmlands at Akor village in Guma Local Government Area thus contravening sections 97, 329, 333 and 222 of the Penal Code of Benue State and Section 19(2)(3) of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of Benue State, 2017.
When the case was mentioned, no plea was taken for want of jurisdiction but the principal state counsel, M.N. Abenga, from the State Ministry of Justice, formally applied to take over the motions from the initial prosecution counsel, ASP Edward Imoh, and the substantive case.
Abenga brought another application urging the court not to grant bail to the accused persons pending the determination of the substantive suit and asked that the case be adjourned to another date to enable the Ministry of Justice conclude on its legal advice.
Counsel to the defendants, Al Mustapha Elegu, did not oppose the application. Ajim granted the application by the state counsel, saying it was allowed that the offences committed by accused persons were grievous and that he needed legal advice from the State Ministry of Justice before he could rule on any application for bail.
Ajim adjourned the case to March 29 for ruling on application for bail and April 11 for hearing of the substantive suit. He ordered that the suspects be remanded at the Makurdi prisons till the next adjourned dates.