BREAKING: Police, NSCDC Officers Missing As Armed Herdsmen Ambush Patrol Team
Not less than three security operatives have been declared missing, and others injured, following a deadly ambush on a joint patrol team by suspected armed herdsmen in Benue State.
The attack occurred at about 2:19 p.m. on Monday along the Daudu–Uikohol Expressway in Guma Local Government Area.
A police situation report noted that the development occur e when the patrol team was conducting a route operation.
The joint patrol team, made up of personnel from the Police Mobile Force (13 PMF, 58 PMF), State Intelligence Services (SIS), Operation Zenda, the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Benue State Civil Protection Guards, and local vigilantes, observed plumes of smoke rising from burning houses about two kilometres off the expressway.
As they moved closer to investigate, the team came under heavy gunfire from the suspected herdsmen, who had allegedly set fire to huts in the area.
In the chaos that followed, a police inspector and an NSCDC officer sustained gunshot injuries and were rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi for urgent medical attention.
In the aftermath of the ambush, the whereabouts of the three other officers — a police inspector and two NSCDC personnel — remained unknown, as they were declared missing in the aftermath of the ambush.
The security agencies have since launched a coordinated search and rescue operation to locate the missing officers.
Earlier in June, SaharaReporters reported that the Tor Tiv V of Benue State, Prof. James Ayatse, stated that the violence plaguing the state should not be described as a farmers-herders crisis or communal conflict.
According to him, what is happening in Benue State is a “genocidal invasion and land grabbing by terrorists.”
He made this assertion during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to the state amid rising insecurity.
“We have great concern on the misinformation and misrepresentation of the security crisis in Benue State,” the Tor Tiv said.
“Your excellency, it is not herders-farmers clashes, it is not communal clashes, it is not reprisal attacks or skirmishes. It is this misinformation that has led to suggestions such as ‘remain tolerant, negotiate for peace, learn to live with your neighbours.’ What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale, genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits, which has been on for decades and is worsening every year. Wrong diagnosis will always lead to wrong results.”
“So we are dealing with something far more sinister than we think about. It is not learning to live with your neighbours, it is dealing with the war.”
When contacted on the development of attack on the Joint Security Patrol team, the Police Public Relations Officer in Benue State Udeme Edet, promised to get back to SaharaReporters on information.
“I will get back to you on that,” she said.
