Residents Protest Killings, Block Makurdi–Lafia Federal Highway

Residents Protest Killings, Block Makurdi–Lafia Federal Highway

Tension gripped parts of Benue State on Saturday as angry residents blocked the busy Makurdi–Lafia Federal Highway to protest the killing of five people by suspected herdsmen.

The victims, said to be farmers, were attacked in separate incidents while heading to their farmlands on the outskirts of Makurdi, near the boundary with Guma Local Government Area.

Eyewitnesses told reporters that two of the victims were ambushed and killed near Tse Adaa village in Guma on Friday. The following morning, three more people were reportedly murdered in Abagena and Atsom communities, both located within Makurdi Local Government Area.

Outraged by the repeated attacks, residents staged a demonstration on Saturday, carrying the bodies of three of the slain farmers and placing them on the highway. The blockade, which lasted several hours, caused a traffic standstill along the Makurdi Lafia corridor, leaving hundreds of motorists and passengers stranded.

Protesters accused the state and federal governments of failing to protect rural communities from incessant assaults by armed herdsmen, warning that the killings had become a recurring nightmare for farmers in the region.

Security operatives, including soldiers and police officers, were later deployed to the scene to restore order and reopen the highway. However, the protest underscored growing anger over the state’s insecurity, particularly in farming communities that have suffered repeated attacks over the years.

Neither the Benue State Government nor the police had issued an official statement on the incident as of press time.

The killings and subsequent protest come against the backdrop of heightened tensions in Benue, where clashes between farmers and herders have left hundreds dead and displaced thousands in recent years.