Breaking News: Violence in Benue as local youth clash with herdsmen

Some local villagers have blocked the Makurdi/Enugu Federal Highway after clashes between some local youth and Fulani herdsmen led to the death of at least three people, residents have said.

It has been reported that there is violence in Aliade town of Gwer East Local Government following reprisal attacks on Fulani settlement by some Tiv youth.

“Fulani herdsmen killed two young men and in retaliation, the young men from the village organized themselves and attacked a Fulani settlement and killed one Fulani man,” a source in the area said.

“However, the intervention of an Air Force unit in the area that tried to stop the violence led to the death of many more villagers,” a source in the area said.

He also said the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, was holding primary elections to select candidates for the forthcoming local government election in Benue state slated for June 3.

He said because of the election, the member representing Gwer East/Gwer West federal constituency, Mark Gbillah, was in town and the protesters who blocked the highway insisted he must address them.

A resident of Otukpo town, Mathew Ameh, told Premium Times that motorists plying the federal highway were advised to divert from the road to avoid the violence ahead.

Our source said the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in the area had dispatched a detachment of police officers to curb the violence and restore order.