Benue Attack: “How I Lost Pharmacist, JAMB Student, 21 Family Members,” Ex-Gov’s Aide Mourns

• Prince Aondona Isaka Ornguga has recounted how residents are grappling with unspeakable grief after a brutal attack on Yelewata community in Benue state left around 100 people dead, including 23 of his relatives
• The tragic event, which occurred on Friday, saw armed invaders believed to be herders storm the border town near Nasarawa state and unleash a wave of violence on unsuspecting residents
• Ornguga, a former senior special assistant to ex-Governor Samuel Ortom, revealed that the massacre claimed two of his first cousins, Victor Utim, who had recently taken the JAMB exam, and Mathew Iormba, a young pharmacist

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

Prince Aondona Isaka Ornguga is one of many residents reeling from the aftermath of armed invaders’ attack on Yelewata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state, which claimed the lives of scores, including at least 23 family members.

Legit.ng recalls that Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue strongly condemned the recent massacre of innocent citizens at Yelewata village which occurred on Friday night, June 13.

Ortom's ex- aide loses JAMB student, 22 other family members

Ornguga, while fighting back emotion, recounted the scale of devastation done to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Yelewata, a border rural town of Benue with Nasarawa state.

Speaking with Daily Trust, Ornguga, a former senior special assistant to ex-governor Samuel Ortom on Local Government Administration, said the 23 victims were all related to him through his maternal lineage.

“I spoke with two of the victims -Victor Utim and Mathew Iormba – about three weeks ago. They are my first cousins from Tse Tarbee, my mother’s village. While Utim just wrote JAMB, and we were working on getting admission for him. Iormba told me he went to check his business around there,” he narrated.

He expressed worry that the victims were killed in the most inhumane manner.

“Iormba was a pharmacist. He had a tall dream, but look at how it all ended for them. And for Utim, this is not what we discussed,” Ornguga lamented.

Benue attack: Tinubu issues fresh order to security chiefs

President Bola Tinubu has condemned the continued bloodshed in Benue state and directed security chiefs to enforce his orders to end the carnage.

The president, in a statement released on Sunday, June 15, by his special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the killings as “inhuman and anti-progress.”

He directed security chiefs to fully implement his earlier orders to restore peace to the state.

Read more about Benue here:

• Protest breaks out in Benue over mass killings
• “Send him back to the altar”: Political analyst lists Benue Governor Alia’s wrong doings

Pope Leo reacts to 'terrible massacre’ in Benue

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Pope Leo XIV condemned the killing of nearly 200 people in Yelwata, in the Guma local government area of Benue state.

The Pope described the fresh attack on the Benue community as a terrible massacre of people who are mostly internally displaced persons.

“I pray that security, justice, and peace will prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country so affected by various forms of violence. And I pray in a special way for the rural Christian communities in Benue state, who have been unceasingly the victims of violence," Pope Leo said.

Source: Legit.ng