The Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty Prof James Ayatse has alleged that the killings of Benue indigenes in the New Year attacks were signs of genocide.
The Tor Tiv said this on Thursday in Makurdi during the requiem mass for the mass burial of 73 people killed by herdsmen on January 1 in Guma and Logo local government councils.
He said the persistent attacks on Benue communities were worrisome, especially since the federal government failed to prevent re-occurrence.
The monarch lamented that the herdsmen have attacked Benue 47 times in five years, attacks, he said were akin to an agenda of genocide.
”I, therefore, call on the Federal Government to act swiftly by putting an end to this killings; this act of impunity must stop.”
He encouraged Gov Samuel Ortom to stand firm in his resolve to implement the anti open grazing law.
The paramount ruler called for prayers for the dead and appealed to the media to continue to report the carnage that had befallen the state.