“I rushed back only to find the worst nightmare of my life,…My wife and four children had been burned to ashes inside the market stalls.”
Makurdi, Benue State – Grief and outrage engulfed Yelewata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State following a deadly attack on Friday night, where suspected armed herdsmen killed at least 107 people, many of them internally displaced persons.
Tsegba Gbam Ayua, a displaced farmer, returned from Nasarawa on Saturday morning to discover his wife and four children had been burned alive. “I rushed back only to find the worst nightmare of my life,” he said. “My wife and four children had been burned to ashes inside the market stalls.”
Prince Aondona Ornguga also lost 23 family members. “Victor Utim just wrote JAMB. Iormba was a pharmacist. Look at how it all ended,” he lamented.
Community leader Matthew Mnyan said over 200 deaths may be recorded, describing the attack as “heartbreaking.” Witnesses recounted how the attackers doused shelters with petrol before setting them ablaze.
The massacre provoked widespread protests in Makurdi and Daudu, with demonstrators demanding justice. Police fired teargas to disperse crowds.
Governor Hyacinth Alia condemned the attacks, while President Tinubu deployed security forces, calling for reconciliation.
Operation Whirl Stroke Commander, Major General Moses Gara, vowed justice: “We are not here to observe; we are here to act.”
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**EXTRACTS:**
* *“My wife and four children had been burned to ashes…”* – Ayua
* *“Children had their throats slit. Toddlers were killed like animals.”* – Mnyan
* *“This is not what we discussed…”* – Ornguga on his slain cousin
* *“We are here to act. We will pursue the perpetrators…”* – Major General Gara
* *“Nothing should warrant the taking of life.”* – Governor Hyacinth Alia