Fresh tension has gripped the Yelwata community in Benue State’s Guma Local Government Area after suspected armed herdsmen launched a new attack on Sunday, leaving two residents with gunshot wounds in what locals describe as yet another traumatic blow to a community still reeling from past horrors.
The incident unfolded in the afternoon when herdsmen were observed openly grazing cattle toward Yelwata town. Soldiers stationed in the area moved to intercept them, prompting the herders to flee. As security operatives attempted to halt the retreat, gunfire was exchanged — and two civilians caught in the crossfire paid the price.
One victim, a woman, was shot in the hand; another resident sustained a wound to the leg. Both were evacuated by the Benue State Emergency Management Agency to Makurdi for medical treatment. A community source confirmed they remain alive and credited BSEMA’s swift response for their survival.
The attack has reignited deep-seated fears in a community that has never fully recovered from a catastrophic assault on June 13, 2025, in which over 200 people were reportedly killed and hundreds more were displaced into Internally Displaced Persons camps.
The timing of Sunday’s violence has compounded the distress. Just days prior, the state government had distributed improved agricultural inputs to local farmers ahead of the planting season — an intervention now at risk of going to waste.
“Our people are worried that the renewed activities of armed herdsmen may prevent them from accessing their farms,” a community leader, speaking anonymously, told journalists. “How can we farm when armed men roam freely around our farms?”
Residents say the cycle of attacks is strangling any hope of economic recovery, with many now too afraid to return to their farmlands despite the government’s intervention. The renewed violence has once again raised urgent questions about the adequacy of security arrangements in one of Benue State’s most persistently troubled communities.
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