Another dark cloud has fallen over Benue State as three security operatives have been declared missing following a violent ambush by suspected armed herdsmen on a joint patrol team. The brutal incident unfolded around 2:19 p.m. on Monday along the Daudu–Uikohol Expressway in Guma Local Government Area.
According to a police situation report, the patrol team was on a routine route operation when they spotted smoke rising from burning houses roughly two kilometres off the main road. Their attempt to investigate was met with an ambush—gunfire erupted from suspected attackers who had reportedly torched several huts in the area.
The joint security patrol comprised officers from various agencies including the Police Mobile Force, State Intelligence Services, Operation Zenda, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Benue State Civil Protection Guards, and local vigilantes. Caught off guard, the team scrambled for safety.
In the chaos, a police inspector and an NSCDC officer sustained serious gunshot wounds. Both are currently receiving treatment at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi. Meanwhile, the fate of three other officers—a police inspector and two NSCDC personnel—remains unknown. A search and rescue operation has since been launched to find them.
This latest attack has heightened fears in a state already scarred by frequent and deadly violence. Only weeks ago, during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Benue, the Tor Tiv V, Prof. James Ayatse, openly challenged the narrative that the conflict is a mere farmers-herders crisis. He described the situation as a “genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits.”
“The wrong diagnosis will always lead to the wrong results,” the monarch warned. “This is not about learning to live with your neighbours. This is war.”
As families of the missing officers wait anxiously and the state reels from yet another security blow, questions are being raised about how much longer communities in Benue will have to endure these terrifying assaults without adequate federal intervention or a decisive security overhaul.
When contacted about the ambush, Police Public Relations Officer Udeme Edet told SaharaReporters, “I will get back to you on that,” offering no further detail as of press time.
The silence only deepens the worry.
