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Fulani herdsmen, yesterday, engaged the military
personnel of Operation Whirl Stroke in a six-hour bloody
exchange of gunfire at Tse Chiata in Guma Local
Government Area of Benue State IGBERE TV has learnt.
Though the causality figure in the battle has not been
ascertained, but Vanguard gathered that several members
of the militant gang were killed in the exchange.
Confirming the development, Chairman of Guma local
government area, Mr. Anthony Shawon confirmed that the
herdsmen had already taken over and occupied part of
Mbagwen community, a border village between Benue and
Nasarawa states.
Shawon said: “In fact, there is one ‘barrack’ they
established at Tse Chiata village and immediately they saw
the military on patrol in the area they opened fire on them
but the military took them on. The battle lasted from
morning till about mid day before the military overpowered
the armed herdsmen.
“The military also succeeded in burning down the ‘barrack’
which the herdsmen code named ’72 battalion’ at Tse
Chiata. When the military overran them they left but the
military discovered that they have a bigger ‘barrack’ in front
but they could not reach it.
“The herdsmen have already taken over about seven
kilometers of Benue land from the border between
Nasarawa and Benue states, where they freely graze after
chasing the locals away.
“None of our people who own the communities can access
their homes and farmland again.
“Unfortunately, all the bridges in that area have been burnt
and destroyed by the militant herdsmen so the military
cannot reach those places.
“Our fear is that even our people who are farming now are
scared because by November the herdsmen would sack the
people from the farms and harvest their crops. That is what
they have been doing to us.
“The situation at the moment is that the military are in
total control and if not for them none of us would have
been able to go back to our homes and farms.”
When contacted, the Commander of the military Operation
Whirl Stroke, Maj Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, said his personnel
on patrol in Guma ran into some of the militant herdsmen
who however fled on sighting the team.
