Benue massacre: Buhari orders security forces to fish out perpetrators

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered security forces to comb every nooks and crannies and bring to book perpetrators of attacks in Benue communities in which over 70 people were killed.

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen were said to have killed over 70 people in Ikobi, Atakpa, Akpete, Edikwu, Oiji, Ijaha, Odugbo and Ugbobi villages of Benue State within one week.

However, Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu on Saturday condemned the recent bout of killings in Benue State in which tens of people were killed in Umogidi community of Entekpa-Adoka in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state.

He urged that all efforts be made to end the “extreme violence.”

The President condemned the use of terrorism as a tool in inter communal conflicts, urging that the attackers be found and dealt with swiftly under the law.

He conveyed his grief and sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives due to the attack and directed the secret services, police and military commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and to immediately review the security management in the affected areas.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those murdered. The entire nation stands united in the fight against the forces of terror and evil,” said the President.