The Nigerian government has said that the incessant attacks and killings in Benue state is being carried out by “abnormal and unnatural” herdsmen. President Muhammadu Buhari’s top media aide Femi Adesina, who made this known on Wednesday, was reacting to Tuesday’s attack on a Catholic church and killing of two priests and worshippers.
It had also reported that several persons had been declared missing in the area, with Governor Samuel Ortom reported to have cut short his vacation over the crisis. More than 19 persons, including two priests, were killed by suspected herdsmen in separate attacks on Gwer East and Guma areas of the state on Tuesday.
The armed men reportedly stormed the St. Ignatius’ Catholic Church during an early morning mass, killing the priests and others members. “What we now seem to have on our hands are the normal herdsmen who carry sticks and cutlass and some abnormal and unnatural herdsmen who are killers in disguise who perpetrate this evil,” Adesina told Channels TV.
“You see that it is a multi-dimensional thing now. It is beyond the ordinary farmers-herdsmen clash which we have had with us for decades,” he added.
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