By Esther Daniels


Three kinsmen of Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, have been killed by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

The three, which included two males and a female were killed Saturday at about 5pm when the gunmen laid ambush and blocked the Iordye- Gbajimba road in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state.

The victims were riding on a motorcycle when they were ambushed and shot dead by the killer herdsmen who have taken over parts of the local government, bordering Nasarawa State.

Security agencies who recovered the bodies said those who were shot died on the spot from gunshot wounds while the other was brutally machete to death.

Soldiers attached to Operation Whirl Stroke recovered the bodies and deposited the corpses at Gbajimba general hospital.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ortom, Mr. Nat Ikyur, Saturday night, said, "this has been the plight of Benue indigenes in the hands of Fulani herdsmen who have invaded the state in a bid to take over our ancestral lands".