Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
At least three mourners returning from a burial ceremony in Benue State were shot dead on Saturday night, and two others were abducted, in the latest massacre to expose the unravelling security situation in Nigeria’s North‑Central region. The attack happened around Sati‑Ikov Council Ward in Ushongo Local Government Area. The assailants, described by a local lawmaker as a militia group operating from neighbouring Katsina‑Ala LGA, ambushed the mourners as they made their way back from the burial, robbing them of their belongings before opening fire.
A resident who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity said the group ran into the gunmen close to the community. “Some mourners who were returning from a burial were attacked close to our community, Sati‑Ikov, on Saturday night by local militias. Three of them were killed, while two others, a male and a female, were kidnapped,” the resident recounted. The incident has heightened fear among residents, with many now afraid to travel even for essential ceremonies. The lawmaker representing Ushongo State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly and Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Dr Simon Gabo, confirmed the attack and condemned the persistent violence. Gabo identified the deceased as Bem Msughter from Mbakyombo, Daav‑Ikov; Aondo Chia from Mbamegh, Daa‑Ikov; and Sunday Terwase of Mbakyor, Daav‑Ikov. The two abducted mourners were identified as Aondongu Amos, a POS operator in Sati‑Ikov, and Mrs Arinze, an Igbo patent medicine trader.
“I received a call from my people today (Sunday) at about 4 am that yesterday (Saturday) night, they went for a burial and on their way back, they ran into armed men,” Gabo told reporters. “The armed men shot and killed three of them and collected their bags. They also robbed some residents there and kidnapped two people. The victims were all young men.” Gabo added that the community has been under a steady siege, noting that there have been “one or two such incidents every other week” and that three other people were killed in the same community just two weeks earlier. He also disclosed that in recent days, one person was killed, three others sustained gunshot wounds, and two motorcycles were stolen from residents.
The lawmaker blamed the attacks on a militia group that he said crosses the River Katsina‑Ala from the neighbouring local government area to strike and then retreats. “These armed men cross the River Katsina‑Ala from the neighbouring LGA into our communities to attack and retreat. The terrain is difficult, mountainous and covered with thick forest, which makes their operations easier,” he explained. The repeated use of the difficult topography around the boundary between Ushongo and Katsina‑Ala has turned the area into a deathtrap for locals, as the security forces find it difficult to track the perpetrators who melt back into the forest after each raid.
The killing of mourners returning from a burial represents a chilling escalation in the pattern of violence that has turned parts of Benue into a theatre of endless bloodshed. For a community already mourning the loss of a loved one, to have the funeral procession itself turned into a killing field is a shattering blow. The attack not only claimed young lives but also robbed the community of a POS operator and a medicine trader, two informal but essential pillars of the local economy. The abduction of Mrs Arinze, an Igbo trader, also signals the larger implications of such attacks, which could exacerbate ethnic tensions in a state already divided along complex lines.
Gabo confirmed that he had reported the incident to the police, and that the Divisional Police Officer had deployed security personnel to the community on Sunday morning. However, repeated calls to the Police Public Relations Officer of the Benue State Command, DSP Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful. The police have not issued an official statement on the attack.
Over the years, Benue State has become synonymous with brutality. Farming communities have been systematically emptied, schools shut down, and markets deserted as armed groups, primarily militia, have waged a campaign of terror that has left thousands dead. Previous mass burials, such as the one for the Awase community in 2024 where 70 bodies were laid to rest in a single day, serve as grim markers of the state’s unrelenting agony. The attack on the mourners in Ushongo shows that in central Nigeria, not even the sacred act of burying the dead is safe from the terror that stalks the land. As the people of Sati‑Ikov struggle to come to terms with this new tragedy, the question that haunts them is the same one they have asked for years: when will the government finally secure their roads and their villages, and spare them this grief?
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