The Benue State Government on Sunday said it will organise mass burial for the victims of the New Year attack next Thursday.

According to PUNCH, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Terver Akase, explained that there would be a memorial service for them by 10am at the IBB Square, Makurdi.

He stated that the 10 persons killed on Saturday would be buried along with the 49 deposited at various mortuaries in the state, adding that the dead would be buried in their localities after the memorial service, meaning that 39 bodies will be buried at Guma and 20 others would be interred in Logo, all in Benue State.

Akase said the government considered the deceased as heroes of the state who died for the safety of Benue.

Governor Samuel Ortom had declared at the stakeholders’ meeting held on Friday that three days’ mourning period would be declared in preparatory for the mass burial.

According to him, state government would make coffins for the 49 bodies — 39 from Guma and 10 from Logo local government areas deposited at various mortuaries.

He added that he had given orders that those bodies that were currently found and already decomposed be buried immediately.

Meanwhile, the state command spokesman, ASP, Moses Yamu said that more policemen have been deployed to the troubled areas, particularly, Logo, where more attack was recorded on Saturday.

Suspected herdsmen on Saturday killed 11 persons in a fresh attack on Tombu village in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

The state governor, Mr Samuel Ortom, confirmed the renewed killings to Channels Television shortly after an emergency meeting with the joint socio-cultural groups in the state.

“Two days back, four persons were killed in Guma Local Government, and this has continued,” he said.

Ortom commended the heavy presence of the police as well as the military in the state in a bid to prevent a re-occurrence of such incident.

He, however, lamented that more than 40,000 people have been displaced for fear of unprovoked attacks.

“We appreciate the fact that now we have the massive presence of the police, we have an additional deployment of the military.

“They are on ground and deployment is being done; we are also providing logistics to ensure that these do not continue. As at now, over 40,000 people have been displaced and we are still counting.”

Meanwhile, the police are yet to confirm the attack.

Socio-cultural groups in Benue have also challenged the leadership of the Nigeria Police to visit Tombu village to be sure that the series of attacks carried out in the state were beyond communal crises as claimed.

Spokespersons for the group and President General of Mzough U-Tiv, Mr Edward Ujege, called on the United Nations and the international community to come to the rescue of Benue indigenes.

“Benue people are law-abiding and have remained so even in the face of frequent armed provoked attack by the herdsmen.

“We want any assistance from anywhere in the world to avert the killings in Benue State. And we are calling on the United Nations, United States, European Union, African Union, and any other person to come to our aids,” Ujege said.

Tombu village was attacked barely 24 hours after the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the killings in Benue, Rivers and other parts of the country.

Mr Idris had told State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja that the police were working hard to address the issues.

He attributed the crises to communal misunderstanding in the affected communities and maintained that “Nigeria is well secured”. – PMNews

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