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Barely one week after renewed clash between suspected Fulani herdsmen and Idoma speaking Agatu natives of Benue State claimed seven farmers lives, heavy fighting erupted again on Thursday leaving at least six more people dead.
Yesterday, police spokesman Moses Yamu told Daily Trust on Sunday that the command was yet to determine causalities but had dispatched a team of operatives to ascertain the true position of things in the area.


Locals said they have recovered a total of 13 corpses in the two separate attacks allegedly carried out by the herders in some communities along the River Benue coastline of Agatu Local Government Area.
According to the villagers, the affected villages in the latest attack included Okokolo, Ologba Utukolugwu and Oweto which came under invasion on Thursday evening by herdsmen who engaged the communities in a fierce fight from three different directions.
It was learnt that four corpses were recovered from Okokolo and two others from Ologba while many people including children were said to be wounded and hospitalised at neighbouring Ukpokpo town.
Last Sunday’s clash between the two warring factions which led to the killing of seven people in Agatu was said to have erupted at about 10am, just before the close of church service, in Ega-Adapati village.
The fighting lasted from morning till night such that locals were trapped in the area until the state government stepped in and called for a ceasefire to enable it broker peace among the embattled parties.
The villagers said that the death toll of both attacks could be more than 13 as some persons were still missing with many houses as well as farms and produce burnt.
Former commissioner for Works in the state and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate in the last general elections, John Ngbede, who hails from the area confirmed that the latest attack is disturbing considering the rerun of senatorial polls expected to hold in the zone on February 20.
Ngbede had earlier last week appealed to security agencies to take charge following indications that gunmen could attack more communities in his locality.
The Agatu people in the state have come under attacks in the past, usually at the beginning of the dry season when cattle herders wander into the fertile grassland of the area to seek pasture for their animals.
A member representing the area in the state House of Assembly, Sule Audu, confirmed the killings and lamented the absence of security officials in the area to combat the menace.
He appealed to the state government to urgently establish security posts at flash points in Agatu Island communities to forestall attacks.
Zonal chairman of Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garus Gololo, said he was yet to get details about fresh crisis in the area but appealed for calm, noting that when the problems are left unsolved neither the farmers nor the herdsmen would be able to ply their trade successfully.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that Governor Samuel Ortom has strongly condemned the renewed hostilities between the suspected Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Agatu LGA of the state.
Ortom who lamented the loss of lives and property, called for immediate cessation of hostilities by both parties and directed security agencies to ensure the restoration of peace in affected areas.
The governor recalled that at the recent joint security council meeting between Nasarawa and Benue states held in Lafia, he had agreed with his colleague to visit Agatu communities in both states as part of peace building efforts.
He directed his deputy, Engr Benson Abounu, to immediately visit Agatu to meet with traditional rulers, farmers and youths in the area to appeal for peace and also assess the situation.
Following the governor’s order, Abounu traveled to the area the following day where he preached peace. He reiterated the commitment of the two state governments to ending the cross-border attacks which have claimed many lives, caused destruction to properties and mass displacement of people.
He said the police in Nasarawa State had arrested three persons in connection with Sunday attack on Obishu, Olegoga, Ebete and Olegodege communities of Agatu, adding that Benue and Nasarawa states have agreed to set up check posts in the vulnerable areas in Nasarawa State to apprehend anyone in possession of illegal firearms.
Earlier, the people had lamented the constant killings and destruction of properties and their means of livelihood and called on the state and federal governments to urgently intervene to save them from total annihilation.
Speaking through the Ada ’Agatu, Chief Godwin Onah, Agatu Council caretaker chairman, Joseph Ngbede and three other leaders, the Agatu people restated their commitment to peaceful co-existence, adding that since the crisis began, they have lost over a thousand of their kinsmen.
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police, Paul Yakadi, who was represented, appealed to the people to be calm and not take the laws into their hands but cooperate with the government and security agents, assuring that the security agencies in the two states are working round the clock to restore normalcy to the area.
Also, Nasarawa State Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Mohammed Useni, has called on parties involved in the clashes between Fulani herdsmen and Agatu farmers to eschew bitterness and allow peace to reign.
Useni told our correspondent in Makurdi that three suspected Fulani herders were killed in the Sunday fight which broke out between the Agatu and herdsmen at the bordering riverine communities of Benue and Nasarawa.
He denied that the herders crossed to Agatu villages in Benue to attack them, alleging instead that it was the other way round. He appealed to the parties to allow peace to prevail to enable the committees set up by the state governments to complete their work.
Useni further appealed to the state government and security agencies to hasten action to avert further crisis as information at his disposal suggested more trouble brewing.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that both warring factions had forewarned about the need to avert Thursday crisis as tension was building up after Sunday attacks.