No fewer than 500 persons have been confirmed killed in Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen in six months.
The State Commissioner for Information, Lawrence Onoja, disclosed this during a press briefing in the state capital, Makurdi, on Friday.
He disclosed that more than one million persons have been displaced by the same herdsmen.
The commissioner said that of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the state’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has registered over 180,000 Internally and has been catering for them in eight camps spread across the state.
Also, Onoja said over 500, 000 of the total one million IDPs are currently taking refuge wherever they find space.
While lamenting the humanitarian crises posed by the herdsmen/farmers clashes, the commissioner commended President Muhammadu Buhari for promptly ordering full-scale military operation to replace the Operation Ayem A Kpatuma military exercise.
He said the full-scale military operation launched in May had drastically reduced spate of herdsmen killings in the state and enabled many displaced persons to return to their communities.
Onoja expressed the state government’s gratitude to the military in Operation Whirl-Stroke for chasing out killer herdsmen from the state.