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Tragedy struck communities in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State as suspected bandits unleashed a wave of deadly violence, claiming at least six lives over three days, including a retired Nigerian Army warrant officer and a former councillor.
The bloodshed began on Sunday when the retired Master Warrant Officer, identified as Anyebe, was shot dead in his home at the Asa 2 area of Otukpo. That same day, two other residents were attacked along the Otobi–Akpam Road, while gunmen abducted a woman and her child in a separate raid nearby.
The violence escalated dramatically in the early hours of Tuesday, January 13, when armed assailants stormed the Otobi-Akpa community around 1:30 a.m. In a brutal coordinated assault, they killed five people, among them Ochi Ugbabe—a former councillor and the Peoples Democratic Party's 2019 House of Assembly candidate for Otukpo-Akpa constituency—along with Achibi Onah, Eje Eba, Sunday Iruja, and one yet-to-be-identified victim.
Local leaders expressed deep outrage over the persistent insecurity. Otukpo LGA Chairman Maxwell Ogri described the attackers as bandits masquerading as herders, blaming criminal elements displaced from the North-East and parts of the Middle Belt for the post-festive surge in killings and abductions.
He also recalled a recent ambush on a Benue Links bus near Otukpo that left three passengers injured and hospitalised.The lawmaker representing Otukpo/Akpa in the Benue State House of Assembly, Kennedy Angbo, condemned the relentless assaults on his constituents, noting that Otobi had endured similar horrors in the past, including the killing of 13 people in April 2025.
The Benue State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, confirmed the incidents, amid growing fears that seasonal herder migrations and broader criminal activities are fueling renewed attacks across the state's rural communities. Residents continue to live in heightened anxiety as calls mount for urgent security interventions to restore peace.
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