An armed herdsman/militia
Armed men suspected to be herdsmen/militia, on Thursday, beheaded a middle-aged farmer, Gabriel Vandefan, while working on his farm at Ukpiam, Mbabai Council Ward of Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
A native of Mbabai, Geoffrey Jimin, who spoke to our correspondent on the phone, explained that Vandefan went to his millet farm on Thursday morning at the back of his house to harvest what the family would eat, and was accosted by the herders who macheted him to death before beheading him and also cut off one of his hands.
Jimin, a two-time Benue State House of Assembly contestant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wrote on his social media page, “Today in Ukpiam, Mbabai Council Ward, Gabriel Vandefan dared hunger by going to the backyard to harvest his millet and he was ambushed and beheaded by the marauding herdsmen.”
He further explained that, “The militia Fulani herdsmen did not just kill him; they beheaded him and also cut off one of his hands and took both away. We are still waiting for God to intervene in our predicament. May He come soon,” he wrote.
“My brother may your soul find peaceful rest in eternity. And may He console all of us and your immediate family, Amen.”
The Tor Lobi, Chief Moses Anageende, in an interview with our correspondent, had lamented the daily killings going on in Guma and Makurdi communities and called on the federal government to end what he called the ethnic cleansing of his subjects.
According to the monarch, “I am getting reports every day about the killings of my subjects, even with the directives of the President, there are silent killings of four to five persons every day.
“We are calling on all concerned authorities, even the international communities, to intervene in the security situation in Guma,” he pleaded. Efforts by our correspondent to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer, Udeme Eder, proved abortive as she was neither picking up her calls nor replying to text messages sent to her.
