● Assailants shoot Catholic priest, kill 27 others
● 32 victims in critical conditions
It was a well-planned mission executed in the evening hours with clinical precision. At about 4pm on the fateful Sunday of May 25, about 30 heavily armed men suspected to be herdsmen stormed Aondona, a district community in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State on an ungodly mission: to kill every resident and burn down the entire community.
With some of them half-masked and others clad in military fatigue, the marauders announced their arrival with a staccato of gunfire, shattering the serenity of the community. They declared an ‘operation one man, one bullet’ on the local farmers, most of whom were returning to their farms after attending the Sunday service in their churches. Some were already on their farms while many others did not go to the farm because it was a Sunday.. …CONTINUE READING
Their mission was well defined: hit each and everyone sighted with a bullet and burn down their houses and foodstuffs. Not even children and pregnant women were spared in their evil mission.
To ensure that the inhabitants of the community did not decode the impending danger, the intruders had stealthily made their entry using farm routes. Knowing that it was a Sunday and most of the local farmers might not go to farm but rather gather together in their homes, they took the residents unaware in their trademark fashion.
Soon, the bubble burst as sounds of their sophisticated weapons rent the air. The invaders swooped on the remote Aondona community and sent more than 27 innocent farmers into early graves. About 32 others were left critically injured while close to half of the buildings in the community were burnt down, rendering a population of about 50,000 people homeless and forcing them to seek refuge in neighbouring communities of Mbalim, Mbakyaan, Mbaba and Taraku all in Gwer East Local Government Area.
While this operation one man, one bullet was going on in Aondona community, a Catholic Reverend Father, Solomon Atongo, was traveling to Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West Local Government, using the Makurdi-Naka Road. Unfortunately, he ran into some of the herdsmen, who promptly pumped bullets into his vehicle. They had presumed the Rev Father dead, but fortunately for him, he survived the attack and had to undergo treatment at a hospital in Makurdi.
Hapless residents of Aondona community are now left to count their losses not only in terms of loss of lives but also in terms of destroyed foodstuffs, economic trees, houses, huts and motorcycles.
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Among the women widowed by the tragic incident was Mrs Apesuur Ukechia whose husband was hacked to death while returning from the farm. The widow, who also lost all her three children in the horrendous attack, said it was a sword driven into her heart.
“What did I do to deserve this? she asked repeatedly in a chat with our correspondent. “These Fulani people (herdsmen) have ruined my life. They have robbed me of all that I have in life.
“I am finished. God, I need your divine intervention. Show your mercy,” she lamented as her husband’s corpse and those of her children were evacuated to the mortuary.
To worsen her plight, Mrs Ukechia does not have a roof over her head as their house was burnt during the attack that saw the entire inhabitants of the community displaced. She has only managed to find refuge with a friend in Mbaba community of Gwer East Local Government Area, where she now lives on charity.
Ukechia, who was yet to come to terms with becoming a widow, said she could not believe that all the hope that she and her husband had nursed about succeeding in life and training their kids had been dashed by her husband’s sudden death.
Narrating the circumstances that surrounded the death of her husband and the three children as well as the entire operation in the community, she said although there had been threats of attacks by herdsmen around the local government in the last eight months, as most remote villages in the local government had been displaced and a lot of people had been killed, Aondona is not completely a remote community, being next in size only to Naka, the local government’s headquarters.
Ukechia said: “We never believed that herdsmen would plan an attack on Aondona despite their threats around the local government. We woke up on Sunday (May 25) with high hopes and went to the church as a family.
“We came back and my husband decided that he would go to the farm with the children to uproot some cassava. I was tired and could not follow them to the farm.
“On their way back from the farm with the cassava and approaching home, sounds of gunshots emerged from nowhere and I ran for my dear life.
“It is unfortunate that the herdsmen were strategic with their gunshots. They were targeted directly at them and they all died on the spot. They burnt down the house, killed other people and also burnt down their houses too.
“In fact, the entire community was confused when gunshots sounded from different corners and the inhabitants ran in different directions for safety.
“When I could not find my husband and children, I thought they had also run in different directions. But when the dust cleared and they could not be found, some men who survived the attacks started checking until they found their corpses close to the house.
“I didn’t believe that they were killed in the attacks until I saw their lifeless bodies in pools of blood.
“I never thought they would leave me this early. We had good plans to train our children up to the university, but these wicked herdsmen ruined my life.
“They have rendered me a widow without any hope in life again. Why can’t God take my life too so that I join them? I don’t need this life again.
“How can God punish me this manner? Taking away my life partner and precious children in one clean sweep and leaving me lonely on this planet is quite frustrating.
“I am highly traumatised by this experience. I had no inkling that Sunday church I attended together with my husband and children was my last movement with them on earth.
“We were married for 27 years and had three children. My husband and I are farmers. It’s going to be quite challenging for me going forward. No mother, no father, no husband, no child, no family relations, how can I cope?
“Where do I go from here? My husband was my last hope but he is no more. In spite of the spate of mindless killings going on in Gwer West Local Government, I never for once thought he would be a victim, talk less of my children.
“Now they have both gone to meet their Creator, leaving me with no means of livelihood for now, because we can’t access our farm anymore.
“The killer herdsmen have deprived me of peace of mind. Who takes care of me? Who will rebuild the house? Who will console me? These same Fulani herdsmen had earlier in the year killed my father and mother and younger ones. What a life!”
Our correspondent gathered that the herdsmen chased the entire Gwer West Local Government farmers out of their farmlands, and anyone who attempted to go to the farm would be killed.
Ukechia said: “We want help to return to our land. It appears our plight is not touching the heart of government. Our people are being killed like rats and nobody is showing concern.
“The future of our children is in danger. Our land is being regularly soaked by the blood of our people. We need help. The state and the federal government should come to our aid.”
Another victim of the attack, who gave his name as Japhet Atam, gave horrifying details of the attacks in a brief conversation with our correspondent, recalling how his younger brother and his wife were gruesomely killed.
He said at about 4pm on that fateful day, some militia herdsmen invaded the Aondona community in large numbers and set their houses ablaze. “They picked on everyone who tried to escape. My younger brother and his newly married wife were all killed.
“The militia men shot at defenceless men and women as well as children while others armed with machetes hacked other people to death.
“The innocent and unarmed people ran frantically, looking for escape routes, but they were sprayed with bullets.”
He feared that a bloody war would soon erupt between Fulani herdsmen and the local Tiv farmers in the state, saying that the killings were too much for the locals to bear.
“If government cannot protect us, we will protect ourselves. We won’t allow them take over our lands,” Atam said.
“Unless urgent steps are taken to halt the mindless and barbaric killing of Tiv farmers in Benue State, they would be left with no choice but to respond to the attacks,” he added.
At the moment, there is high pitch tension in the state as the killings have left the people of Gwer West Local Government Area traumatised.
The local government area has 15 wards, including Sengev, Teambe/Mbesev, Merkyen, Nyamshi, Gaambe-Ushin, Mbachohon, Mbaba, Tijime, Avihijime, Gbaange/Togo, Tyoughatee/Ijaha, Sengev/Yengev, Saghev/Ukusu, Ikyagev and Mbabuande.
Our correspondent gathered that since late last year, residents of more than 11 council wards had been displaced and were taking refuge in Naka, the headquarters of the local government area.
Speaking on the latest attacks which sent many residents into their early graves, the Executive Chairman of Gwer West Local Government Area, Victor Torsar Ormin revealed that the attacks occurred in multiple villages, including Yewa Biama, which lies in close proximity to a military base. Despite this, he said, there was no response from security forces during the carnage.
He expressed sadness over the massacre of more than 20 people by herdsmen just as he decried the persistent violence and the inactions of the government.
Ormin said: “More than 20 people, including a two-year-old child, were killed in a series of fresh attacks in Aondona and other communities in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.
“They say the local security does not have the mandate to engage these people; that only the federal government can give that mandate.
“So should my people continue to die while we wait? What is the meaning of this?”
He decried the killing of entire families, citing the burial of a father and his two adult sons in Tewa Bianca just a day before, very close to a military base.
“What is the meaning of this? If they cannot help me, maybe I will leave this position as chairman and let it continue the way it is,” he added.
Visibly distraught, the chairman said the psychological toll of the violence was becoming unbearable. “I don’t care about being chairman anymore. Look at a child of two years old butchered. It is too much for me to condone,” he said.
He disclosed that more than 20 people were killed in Aondona village alone; an area with significant historical and political ties.
“This is the village of the former First Lady of this state, Mrs Eunice Ortom. This is the village of the Tor Gwer, a first class traditional ruler. This is the village of Bishop Anangbe. Whatever will happen will happen. I don’t know what to do anymore,” he added
A member of the House of Representatives representing Gwer West/Gwer East Federal Constituency, Asema Achado vehemently condemned the continuous, unprovoked killings and violent attacks on innocent citizens of Benue State by armed herdsmen.
Achado expressed grave concern over the growing intensity, frequency, and brazen nature of the attacks, describing the situation as a humanitarian catastrophe. He lamented the rising death toll and the deliberate targeting of women, children and the elderly—acts which he described as barbaric, inhuman, and a flagrant violation of both national and international humanitarian laws.
The federal lawmaker recalled the incident in which Rev. Fr. Solomon Atongu was shot along the Makurdi-Naka Road, alongside coordinated attacks on communities such as Tse-Orbiam, Ahume, and Aondona, where several lives were lost. He decried the silence and inaction of both the Federal and State Government authorities in the face of what he termed a “systematic extermination” of Benue’s rural population.
An exasperated citizen of the area and public affairs commentator, Mr Agba Michael, said: “Anyone who has the means to mobilise their people to defend themselves and is still crying, shouting and calling on government to do something at this point is not serious. I say this without apologies to anyone. With all due respect, we have complained enough.
“Someone should help me to tell the bishop that he has complained enough. We have seen his efforts. The world has heard his cry, but no one is coming to help him.
“So, what next? Isn’t there anything else we can do other than condemn attacks and praying? Will the church miss the promise of Paradise if it mobilises to defend itself?
“Someone help me tell the Gwer West LGA Chairman, all concerned citizens of Gwer West and Benue State at large that the time for complaints is long over.
No one will come if it’s just our people dying. We have been sold out. It’s obvious.
“No one agrees they are in the position to do something. Not even the chief security officer of state, the governor.
“Are we going to do something outside the box or we prefer to keep condemning attacks and praying until there is no one left to bury the other?
“In case anyone cares to know why I think something unorthodox is justifiable at this point, here is my billion-dollar question: The people that are killing us, are they obeying the law? What has the law done to them in all these years?
“The summary of it is this: they are killing us because they have weapons and the backing of our slave masters.
“The silence of our leaders is enough reason for us to agree they have been bought. We have been sold out.
“If we have to escape this, we need to accept that we have been enslaved, and ask ourselves whether we are going to fight for our liberation from our slave masters or accept our fate as slaves which we shall be till we are completely whipped out.”
A Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Sebastine Tar Hon, also raised the alarm over the worsening security situation in Benue State and called for speedy action to prevent further loss of lives.
In a detailed letter to the Chief of Defence Staff, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, he stressed the urgent need for a strategic overhaul of operations to stem the tide of violence and protect innocent lives.
Chief Tar Hon, an indigene of Benue State, recalled that since May 2018, the joint military operation codenamed Operation Whirl Stroke has been tasked with tackling herdsmen attacks and militancy across Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, and Zamfara states. He aid initially, the operation showed promise, boasting significant successes including the elimination of bandits and the recovery of weapons, as reported in 2019. He however lamented that recent reports indicate a steep decline in the effectiveness of such operations.
According to the legal luminary, in early 2024, reports emerged of soldiers and civilians being killed by heavily armed invaders, with Amnesty International estimating about 2,600 lives lost, mostly women and children, over the course of attacks on numerous communities, pointing out that the situation has since spiraled, with violence escalating unabated.
Hon’s letter states that recent months have seen a surge in deadly attacks. It says in April 2025, dozens of innocent people were killed in Otobi community, Gwer West and other parts of Benue State, with casualty figures ranging between 56 and 70.
The letter says in May alone, more than 166 persons had been reported killed across various local government areas of the state.
Specific attacks, according to Prof Hon, include the brutal sacking of Aondona Village in Gwer West, where dozens of villagers and a Catholic church were burnt or destroyed, and a priest, Rev. Fr. Solomon Atongo was attacked and left for dead but was rescued after hours.
“Killings in the state by the invaders have become a daily occurrence and no one is challenging the murderers. Benue people are greeted daily by/with reports of their loved ones being killed, maimed, attacked and dislocated from their ancestral lands. What a big existential challenge to the good people of Benue State,” he stated.
Chief Hon also criticised recent military strategies, noting a shift towards targeting local militia gangs while neglecting the larger invasion by heavily armed Fulani herdsmen. He highlighted his belief that operations have become inconsistent, with conflicting directives such as the establishment of a separate “Operation Planning Cadre” by Nasarawa State, potentially hampering coordinated efforts.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also points to the inadequate deployment of police personnel who were sent to troubled areas on motorcycles, a tactical approach he says has proven insufficient against heavily armed invaders.
He further made reference to the urgent ultimatums issued by the Traditional Councils of Tiv and Idoma asking herders to vacate their ancestral lands by the end of May 2025. These warnings, he said, have sadly have been ignored, leading to a full-scale invasion.
Prof. Hon concluded that at least a quarter of Benue State has been forcibly occupied by armed herders, turning peaceful farmers into refugees on their own land, and called on the government to act fast to avert further bloodshed.
