Benue State's Ukum Local Government Area is tense as a result of the massacre of 11 people on Wednesday morning by highly armed bandits.
The attack has sparked widespread protests in the neighborhood, which has experienced constant unrest despite multiple coordinated security efforts to neutralize the threat. Residents said that dozens of men brandishing heavy weapons attacked Ayati, the Borikyo ward headquarters, killing 11 people and injuring numerous others to varying degrees.
In response to the event, enraged young Borikyo people besieged the Ukum local government secretariat and the Sankera-Ayati-Sai road in an attempt to vent their anger over the ongoing killings in their town. It was discovered that the irate demonstrators broke windows and used sticks and stones to harm other objects at the council secretariat.
“The gunmen opened gunfire and killed seven people on the spot at night. More bodies were recovered hours later bringing the causalities to 11. Now, the youths are protesting seriously,” a resident said on the condition of anonymity.
“They have barricaded the roads with the dead bodies, asking Governor Hyacinth Alia to act because the killings have continued so long without any clear steps to end the madness.
“They are protesting at Sankera, the headquarters of Ukum LGA. Angry youths are currently demonstrating to register their grievances about the continuous killing of innocent and defenceless people of Borikyo in Ukum LGA on a daily basis without any action from government to arrest the ugly situation.”
Chief Joseph Har, the governor of Benue State's internal security advisor, told reporters in Makurdi that demonstrators were threatening to set fire to the LG secretariat due to the number of killings occurring in the region.