The Nigeria Army has declared victory over armed herdsmen terrorizing Benue State saying all the territories in Benue occupied by the armed herdsmen had been recovered.
The defence headquarters said further that all previously deserted territories in Benue State due to attacks by the armed herdsmen have been recovered by the owners and more residents are returning home.
The victory was announced to the media by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General John Agim, on Saturday.
General Agim explained that the victory was as a result of the Army’s counter-insurgency activities through Operation Whirl Stroke.
He said because of the success of the counter-insurgency activities, all known armed herdsmen camps in the state have been destroyed.
The General did not fail to note that the victory was not only in Benue State, but also in neighbouring States of Taraba and Nasarawa where armed herdsmen had also laid siege to farming communities.
According to General Agim, no herdsmen territories are standing in Benue and farmers who fled their communities are returning to their ancestral homes.
Agim also said the activities of militia groups in the state have been degraded, rendering them incapable of carrying out attacks.
Armed Fulani Herdsmen have wrecked havoc in the Nigerian Middle-belt, with renewed intensity since January of 2018.
The armed group has been responsible for the murder of thousands of people from Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa in 2018 alone and the displacement of thousands of others in the three states.
At the height of the killings and attacks, armed herdsmen occupied 56 farming communities, displacing farmers and looting their food stores as well as destroying farms.
Islamic State Claim Attacks on Nigerian Soldiers
After much pressure from the Nigerian public as well as the International community, the Nigerian Government eventually sent troops to arrest the situation and restore normalcy to the states.
The Nigerian Government has however never acknowledged the presence of armed herdsmen in the states or called the attacks terrorist attacks; rather it has continuously insisted through its Minister of Information Lai Mohammed, that the violence in the middle-belt of the country was a farmers/herders clash caused by global warming and migration.