Fulani Terrorists Kill Bus Driver, Abduct 12 from Christian Farming Communities in Benue
By Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani
(Otukpo) Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) killed a bus driver and abducted three passengers Sunday in attacks on Christian farming communities in Apa County, Benue State.
At least 12 Christians have been abducted from Apa County and neighboring villages in the past ten days, residents and a survivor told TruthNigeria.
In an exclusive chat with TruthNigeria, kidnap survivor Aladan David, 26-year-old Ikobi farmer David Emmanuel, now displaced in Otukpo, and retired police officer Josiah Ikwulono of Akpete described bus ambushes and village raids by FEM along the Otukpo–Oweto federal highway.
In the early hours of May 10, an 18-seater bus traveling along the Otukpo–Oweto federal highway between Atanganyi and Ojantele in Apa County was intercepted by Fulani Terrorists. The driver was killed instantly, and three passengers were dragged into the bush. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
The same week, FEM ambushed another bus near Olojo village in Apa County. The driver escaped unhurt, but four men were taken into the forest, Emmanuel said.
Four villagers were also abducted earlier in the week in Atakpa, Agatu County, where other residents were injured and several killed.
On May 5, Momoh Odeh of Ikobi was shot and is being treated at the Primary Health Care Centre, Ugbokpo.
“On March 9, ten people were kidnapped and taken into the bush. Up till now, we cannot ascertain the place they have been taken to,” Emmanuel told TruthNigeria.
‘We Thought They Needed Help’
David, a resident of Ugboko in Apa County, was kidnapped on May 2 while traveling by motorbike from Ojantele to Agatu.
“We saw two men who seemed to have trouble with their motorbikes, and they waved for help,” David recalled. “When the three of us on our bike headed over, we noticed they were Fulani. Before we could turn around, they pointed guns at us. We sped past them and raced into the bush.”
“The bush was filled with heavily armed Fulani. We were immediately surrounded and captured,” he said. The terrorists demanded their phones.
“I gave them mine, but my two co-travelers threw their phones away and said they had none. The Fulani shot them point-blank in the head,” Aladan David said
The kidnappers accessed David’s phone, found ₦400,000 (about $260) in his bank account, and used his ATM card to withdraw the cash through a POS terminal. They then switched off his phone for a full day.
“The next day, they switched it on and we had a flood of calls from my relatives,” he said. “They asked me to call my family and tell them my life was in their hands.”
The terrorists demanded ₦2 million (about $1,300). His family raised ₦700,000 and a friend sent ₦400,000, bringing the ransom paid to ₦1.1 million (about $730). Counting the ATM withdrawal, the kidnappers took roughly ₦1.5 million (about $1,000).
“They Are in Their Hundreds”
David said the kidnappers commandeered his motorbike and forced him deeper into the forest under guard with other captives. They reached a sprawling FEM settlement.
“They are in their hundreds in the forest camp,” David said. The hideout sits near Naka in Gwer West County, part of a forest belt extending into Apa County.
“They had their cattle and other livestock in the forest. To outsiders, it would look like a peaceful herding community, but it is a hub for kidnappers,” he said. “The Fulani are heavily armed with AK-47 rifles.”
After four days, satisfied they had extorted all they could, the kidnappers released David by a river. They gave him ₦10,000 (about $7) and told him to find fishermen along the bank.
“I eventually came across some boatmen who took me to Oweto bridge, and I made my way back home,” he said.
Communities Losing Confidence in Security Forces
“Residents are absolutely living in fear,” Emmanuel told TruthNigeria.
“Even when I was home for a short period, we could not sleep at night,” he said.
Emmanuel said communities have lost confidence in the police and army and now rely only on locally appointed protectors. “Police and army even contribute to what is happening — many communities do not want them,” he said. “Except the ones the community assigns themselves.”
He accused security forces of disarming Christian youths while leaving FEM untouched. “They do not allow the youths to use weapons when they are available, and they can’t stop the Fulani from using theirs,” he said.
Josiah Ikwulono, a retired police officer from Akpete in Apa County, leveled similar charges.
“The security officials deployed to our areas have virtually refused to attack or deter the terrorists,” Ikwulono said. “If there is an attack and you call them, they will not respond. But if Christian indigenes arm themselves with pipe guns, the soldiers apprehend them and confiscate the guns.”
The Apa–Agatu killings come amid a wave of FEM violence across Nigeria’s Middle Belt that has drawn sustained attention in Washington. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has repeatedly urged Nigeria’s redesignation as a Country of Particular Concern, and the broader pattern has been cited in U.S. Congressional hearings and flagged by Genocide Watch.
Equipping the Persecuted (ETP), the U.S.-based NGO that supports TruthNigeria’s field reporting, has documented similar kidnap economies in Kaduna, Plateau, and Taraba — now extending into southern Benue.
The Otukpo–Oweto highway and the forest belt running from Apa County into Gwer West have become a high-risk corridor where commuters routinely face ambush, abduction, and killing by armed Fulani groups. Residents are appealing for the urgent deployment of trusted security personnel.
Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
