The Government of Benue State has announced the suspension of the operations of the livestock guards, the state para-military agency saddled with the enforcement of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 for a period of two weeks to allow all herdsmen with livestock within Benue territory to exit.
Governor Samuel Ortom made this disclosure at the end of the state security council meeting in the wake of the killing of over 130 persons within one week.
The move is to show good fate to all those who claimed to have come into the state without knowing there is a law prohibiting open grazing.
He also said security agencies in the state has confirmed the receipt of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to fish out perpetrators of the mass killings across the state, a duty he said the security agencies should act fast on to bring victims of the attack some form of justice.
Read Also: Panic As Suspected Herdsmen Murder 46 Persons In Benue
Recall that last week, at least forty-six persons, including the thirty-three-year-old son of Otukpo Local Government Area Chairman Bako Eje, have reportedly been killed by suspected herdsmen who invaded Umogidi village of Entekpa-Adoka district in Otukpo Local Government Council in Benue State.
Africa Today News, New York reports that this murder is coming barely 24 hours after the same village, an Idoma-speaking community suffered an attack by suspected herdsmen with three persons killed.
An eyewitness from the affected village Joseph Adakole says the people of the community were burying the three persons earlier killed when the attackers suddenly came back with more firepower to massacre scores of mourners.
He went on to explain that the suspected herdsmen attacked the village around 4 pm on Wednesday and started shooting at the mourners from all corners.