Benue Police reportedly engaged in a shootout with suspected herdsmen

The police in Benue reportedly engaged in a shootout with suspected herdsmen in Ayilamo, Logo local government area of the state. Leadership reports that one herdsman was killed after the gun exchange which occoured on Tuesday, February 13.

Fatai Awoseni who is the state commissioner of police confirmed the attack. He said some guns and some rounds of ammunition were also seized from the attackers. The commissioner of police also said they arrested one man who has been providing information to the suspected herdsmen and helped them in their attacks

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Northern Groups sent a message to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to declare a state of emergency in Taraba, Kaduna, Benue and Zamfara over the herdsmen-farmers clash. The Nation reports that Abdulazeez Suleiman who is the spokesperson of the group gave this position on Tuesday, February 13. He claimed the herdsmen-farmers clash was being used to exploit religious and ethnic differences in the north in order to destabilise the region.

The group called on the federal government to appoint sole administrators to run the four states as political leaders of the states have failed to restore peace. “We nevertheless believe that the current spate of killings and unrests are not isolated incidents but are linked to a grand design to destabilize the North and bring her people to their knees by dividing them along artificial lines through exploiting ethnic and religious differences.