{"id":154972,"date":"2025-03-11T15:26:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T14:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits"},"modified":"2025-03-25T19:28:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:28:34","slug":"benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits","title":{"rendered":"Benue: Group condemns renewed killings in Sankera, demands arrest of culprits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A peace advocacy group, the Sankera Peace and Development Forum, SAPEDEF, has strongly condemned the recent attacks on the Mbagena community in Mchihe Council Ward of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, Benue State, which resulted in the killing of 11 persons and the destruction of property worth millions of naira.<\/p>\n<p>The group, in a statement issued by its National President, Dr. Paul Gbande, and National Secretary, Doshima Vembe, described the attacks\u2014allegedly carried out by suspected armed herdsmen\u2014as \u201cdespicable, barbaric, and callous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SAPEDEF commended security agencies, particularly the internal military task force, Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, for their swift and professional intervention, which they said prevented further bloodshed. The group expressed confidence in the security agencies\u2019 ability to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIntelligence at our disposal clearly reveals that these bandits, who go by the names Mathew, Chen, Full Fire, Overall Konyo, and Anyogo, are directly or indirectly behind the recent brutal attacks in Sankera,\u201d the statement alleged.<\/p>\n<p>The group called on community members and local stakeholders to unite against these criminal elements, warning that their continued activities pose a significant threat to peace and stability in the region.<\/p>\n<p>While applauding the efforts of the Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, SAPEDEF urged him to remain focused despite alleged attempts by political opponents to destabilize his administration.<\/p>\n<p>They also acknowledged the Catholic Bishop of Katsina-Ala Diocese, Most Rev. Isaac Bundepuun Dugu, for launching the Sankera Peace Initiative Panel to foster dialogue and peacebuilding in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot run away from the fact that these culprits\u2014despite hailing from our axis\u2014are criminals working desperately as tools for political opponents to undermine peace and smooth governance in Benue State,\u201d the group stated further.<\/p>\n<p>SAPEDEF urged the federal and state governments to provide immediate relief materials to the affected communities and called for greater collaboration between local stakeholders and security agencies to restore lasting peace in the Sankera region.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A peace advocacy group, the Sankera Peace and Development Forum, SAPEDEF, has strongly condemned the recent attacks on the Mbagena community in Mchihe Council Ward of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, Benue State, which resulted in the killing of 11 persons and the destruction of property worth millions of naira. The group, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":154971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[331,254,16302],"class_list":["post-154972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-benue","tag-nigeria","tag-sankera"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Benue: Group condemns renewed killings in Sankera, demands arrest of culprits - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A peace advocacy group, the Sankera Peace and Development Forum, SAPEDEF, has strongly condemned the recent attacks on t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benue: Group condemns renewed killings in Sankera, demands arrest of culprits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A peace advocacy group, the Sankera Peace and Development Forum, SAPEDEF, has strongly condemned the recent attacks on t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-11T14:26:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T18:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741697213.550401.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Benue: Group condemns renewed killings in Sankera, demands arrest of culprits\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-11T14:26:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T18:28:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\"},\"wordCount\":342,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741697213.550401.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benue\",\"Nigeria\",\"Sankera\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-group-condemns-renewed-killings-in-sankera-demands-arrest-of-culprits\",\"name\":\"Benue: Group condemns renewed killings in Sankera, demands arrest of culprits - 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