A traditional ruler, his wife, their son, and two others were killed late Thursday night in Olegabulu community, Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State after suspected armed herdsmen launched a deadly attack. The incident has thrown the community into mourning and heightened fears of further violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents said the attackers stormed the settlement under cover of darkness, opening fire on the monarch\u2019s palace before moving to nearby homes. Several others sustained injuries, and many families fled overnight, leaving the community deserted by morning. Local leaders linked the assault to recent clashes in Atakpa, where youths had repelled an earlier attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agatu Local Government Chairman Melvin Ejeh confirmed five deaths and said security personnel had been deployed to restore calm. Police noted that full details were still being gathered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victims included Chief Momo Alexander Awodi, his wife Abigail, their son Boniface, and two other residents. The killings have sparked outrage, with Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro condemning the violence and urging urgent government action to protect lives and property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack underscores the persistent insecurity in Benue, where communities have faced repeated assaults in recent years. Authorities say armed groups often retreat into forests along the Agatu\u2013Apa axis, posing ongoing threats to surrounding villages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A traditional ruler, his wife, their son, and two others were killed late Thursday night in Olegabulu community, Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State after suspected armed herdsmen launched a deadly attack. The incident has thrown the community into mourning and heightened fears of further violence. Residents said the attackers stormed the settlement under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":29189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3699,2,2096,776,4,478,458,3,1138],"tags":[12823,10046,3439,1992,12828,3241,12825,12826],"class_list":["post-29188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-business","category-economics","category-educational","category-featured","category-financial","category-legal","category-naija-news","category-politics","tag-agatu-attack","tag-armed-conflict","tag-benue-state","tag-insecurity-in-nigeria","tag-melvin-ejeh","tag-nigerian-police","tag-olegabulu-community","tag-traditional-ruler"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/sr-file-2025-05-21T073000.171-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29190,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29188\/revisions\/29190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}