Edikwu-Ankpali attack: Fulani herdsmen killed my husband like a cow in front of our children – Widow

“They killed my husband like a cow.” Those were the haunting words of Mrs. Igbe Musa, a grieving widow clutching her baby tightly as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her voice trembled as she recalled the horror—the moment armed men stormed her home in Edikwu Ankpali, Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, killing her husband in cold blood.

On Tuesday, June 11, 2025, the leadership of the Ochetoha K’Idoma Forum arrived in the community on a fact-finding mission following a string of deadly attacks allegedly carried out by armed herders. The delegation, led by President General Prof. Yakubu Aboki Ochefu and Secretary General Chief Dr. Paul Edeh Esq., came face to face with the aftermath of a tragedy too great for words.

Their first stop was the palace of His Royal Highness Chief John Antenyi, the Odejo K’Apa, who did not mince words in describing the attacks.

“What is happening here is not random,” the monarch said. “It is planned. It is cruel. It is aimed at wiping out my people. We bury our dead with our hands. We cry alone. Justice has become a ghost that never comes.”

At a town hall meeting that followed, community leader Apostle Chief James Ohepo detailed the scale of destruction. Villages including Edikwu, Ugbobi, Ojantelle, Odugbo, Akpanta, Ikobi, and Ajegbe, he said, were attacked almost simultaneously.

“The men came like soldiers. They moved fast. In a matter of hours, they burned houses, destroyed farms, and killed unarmed villagers,” he said. “There was no security. Nobody came to help.”

But it was the testimonies of the widows that painted the most vivid picture of the cruelty inflicted.

Mrs. Igbe Musa, still in shock, recounted how her husband tried to protect their children before he was shot, dragged outside, and hacked with machetes.

“They didn’t just kill him. They butchered him. I saw it all,” she sobbed.

Mrs. Ojonungwa Onjefu said the attackers mocked them as they killed.

“They laughed while doing it. They didn’t just want to kill—they wanted to break us.”

Another widow, Mrs. Omateyi Echewija, said she fled at midnight with her children, leaving behind her husband’s body and everything she owned.

“My home was burnt down. My husband was killed. Now my children and I are squatting. The earth itself feels foreign,” she said.

The youth leader, Mr. Amodu O. Amodu, expressed both pain and quiet defiance.

“We are unarmed and unprotected. But we are not finished. We will survive this.”

Prof. Ochefu, speaking on behalf of the Ochetoha K’Idoma Forum, described the situation as a humanitarian emergency.

“What we’ve seen here is not just tragedy—it is a national crisis. Your pain is real. Your stories matter. We came to listen and we will act,” he assured the crowd.

He announced a cash donation to the widows and pledged to return with relief materials and stronger advocacy.

“We will engage the State and Federal Governments. We will press SEMA and NEMA to respond. This is not the end. Ochetoha K’Idoma will stand with Apa,” he added.

The Forum also reiterated demands from its May 31, 2025 communiqué, which called for the urgent deployment of security forces to vulnerable communities in Zone C (Benue South).

As night descended over the charred remnants of Edikwu Ankpali, grief still hung in the air. But beneath the sorrow, a quiet resolve began to take shape.

Mrs. Esther Sani, another widow with a child on her lap, summed up the collective cry of the community:

“We don’t want pity. We want protection. We want justice.”