Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Divisional Police Officer of Ayilamo, Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, had travelled to Makurdi on official duty. He collected the items he had gone for and was returning to his post. His escort, two newly deployed Mobile Police officers, rode ahead to meet him and bring him safely back to the community. At about 6 p.m. on Monday, September 14, 2026, the escort was ambushed. The attackers, suspected to be armed herdsmen, opened fire. The DPO survived. The two officers escorting him did not. Their names have not been released.
The attack occurred barely four days after suspected armed herders had invaded Ayilamo community, killing four Mobile Police officers and seven residents. The four officers killed in that earlier attack were ASP Paul Ina, Inspector Mohammed Yusuf, Inspector Oge Ikechukwu, and Inspector Edeh Andrew. Their bodies were recovered from surrounding bushes during search and rescue operations. The police had repelled the attackers after a gun battle that lasted about seven hours, forcing them to retreat into the surrounding forest in the early hours of Friday, September 11. Less than 72 hours later, the same community was mourning again. Six police officers killed in Ayilamo in four days. The people of Logo Local Government Area are asking a simple question: if the police cannot protect their own officers, who will protect them?
The residents of Ayilamo have pointed to the forests and abandoned settlements around Tombo Council Ward as the operational base of the attackers. They say armed men move freely through these areas, using the cover of the terrain to launch attacks and then melt back into the bush. The residents have repeatedly called for sustained security operations in the area, but the attacks have continued. The pattern is not new. Ayilamo, like many communities in Benue's Logo, Ukum, and Katsina-Ala local government areas, has been caught in a cycle of violence that has made normal life impossible. Farmers cannot go to their farms. Families have fled their homes. Schools have shut down. The community has become a battlefield, and the police officers sent to protect it have become targets.
The attack on the DPO's convoy carries a particularly troubling message. The DPO is the senior police officer in charge of the division. He was travelling to assume his duties when his escort was ambushed. The fact that the attackers were able to lay an ambush along a major road, in broad daylight, and kill two officers before disappearing into the bush suggests a level of planning and intelligence that goes beyond opportunistic banditry. It suggests that the attackers knew the DPO's movements and had the capacity to strike at will. If the police cannot secure the routes their own officers use, the situation in Ayilamo is worse than the official statements suggest.
The Benue State Police Command has confirmed the latest attack but has not announced any arrests. The Commissioner of Police, Cletus Nwadiogbu, had on the same day presented insurance cheques to families of deceased police officers at the command headquarters in Makurdi, conveying the condolences of the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu. The timing of the two events, the presentation of cheques and the ambush that killed two more officers, underscores the grim reality facing the command. No amount of financial assistance can compensate for the loss of a loved one, the commissioner said. The families of the two newly killed officers are now waiting for their own cheques, their own condolences, their own burials.
The Benue State Government has condemned the attacks and called for calm, but it has not announced a comprehensive strategy to address the insecurity in Logo and other affected areas. Governor Hyacinth Alia has previously praised the interventions of the Federal Government and the United States in tackling insecurity in the state, describing them as "very helpful". But for the people of Ayilamo, the help has not arrived. The police officers are still dying. The residents are still fleeing. The attackers are still operating from the forests. The cycle of violence continues, and the government's response, however well-intentioned, has not been enough to break it.
The killings in Ayilamo are part of a broader pattern of violence across Benue State, where armed herdsmen and bandit groups have killed hundreds of civilians and security personnel in recent years. The state has become one of the most dangerous places in Nigeria for police officers, with dozens killed in ambushes and attacks in 2026 alone. The attacks have not been confined to Ayilamo. Communities in Guma, Gwer West, Makurdi, and other local government areas have suffered similar assaults. The police have lost officers in gun battles, ambushes, and attacks on their stations. The state's security architecture is under strain, and the officers on the front lines are paying the price.
For the families of the two officers killed on Monday evening, the pain is fresh. They were newly deployed to Ayilamo, sent to a community that had already lost four officers in four days. They were escorting their DPO back to his post when they were killed. They did not die in a gun battle with a criminal gang. They were ambushed on the road, shot down before they could defend themselves. Their names will be added to the list of officers who have died in Ayilamo, a list that grows longer with each passing week. The people of the community will bury them. The police will present cheques to their families. And the attackers will return to the forests from which they came, waiting for the next convoy, the next patrol, the next opportunity to kill.
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