Prince Aondona Isaka Ornguga of Yelewata, Benue State, has narrated how he lost no fewer than 23 members of his family in the recent herdsmen attack on their community.
Initially, in a post on his Facebook page, he stated that he had lost “over 15 members” of his family. However, he has now confirmed that a total of 23 family members were killed in the massacre.
Ornguga also questioned the official death toll of 59 released by the state governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, expressing doubts about the accuracy of the figure.
In his Facebook posts, he wondered why the true extent of the tragedy is being concealed from the public.
The attack on the Yelewata community in Guma Local Government Area of the state began late on the night of Friday, June 13, and continued into the early hours of Saturday, June 14.
It reportedly left over a hundred people dead, with some unconfirmed reports suggesting that as many as 200 people were killed.
Another victim of the attack, Tsegba Gbam Ayua, lost his wife and four children.
The grieving husband and father shared his fears that he may never recover from the trauma.
“I had been displaced from Ayua in Nasarawa State for over two years and was taking refuge with my family in Yelewata. A few days before the incident, I travelled back to Nasarawa to do menial jobs so I could support my family,” Ayua said in Makurdi on Sunday, June 15.
He continued, “Then, around 11 p.m. on Friday, I got a call that our host community was under attack. I rushed back early Saturday morning, only to encounter the worst nightmare of my life. My wife and four children had been burned to ashes inside the market stalls where they were sleeping. Over 100 corpses were recovered in the area.”
He said he buried his family the same day and is now struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.