The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue state has confirmed that two of its officials were among the five people slain by suspected armed herders on Thursday in Zongu Akiki village, Mbalagh Council Ward, Makurdi Local Government Area, LGA.
The five victims were ambushed and executed by armed attackers on their way to their fields on Thursday morning.
Nyitamen Iorzer, a survivor of the attack who narrowly escaped death, said the victims were kidnapped by armed herders at 7 a.m., when they regularly converged in the morning before moving into their farms.
“They opened fire on us, killing five persons,” says the reporter. It was only by God’s mercy that I was able to flee with one other person,” he stated.
Mr. James Ornguga, the party’s Caretaker State Publicity Secretary, confirmed the horrible death of the two APC officials, saying, “Of the five people slain in the attack by armed herders, two of them were party officials from Mbalagh Council Ward.”
“In Mbalagh Ward, Mr. Moses Allagh was the APC’s Public Relations Officer, and Mr. Simon Ugber was the Financial Secretary,” he claimed.
In response, Mr. Jude Nyam, President of the Mbalagh Youth Development Association, lamented the herdsmen’s continuous unprovoked attacks on his people, asking when President Muhamedu Buhari “would start dealing killer herdsmen in the language they understand.”
“The latest incident brings the total number of people killed by herders in the Mbalagh neighborhood to 55 in the last 10 days,” he said.
Nyam also urged President Buhari to be a President who serves all Nigerians, not just herders.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent, DSP, Catherine Anene confirmed that the corpses of the five victims had been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre Makurdi.