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The planned mass burial for 13 people killed during a recent armed herdsmen attack in Turan Community, Jato-Aka, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, has been postponed after families were unable to retrieve the bodies from the mortuary.
The burial was scheduled for Thursday, March 12, 2026, at Mbachom community, where relatives and residents had already gathered, awaiting the arrival of the corpses.
A relative of one of the victims, Bemgba Numve, said the ceremony had to be called off because the families could not obtain the remains of their loved ones.
“My brother was killed in the attack and we planned to bury all 13 of them today. Everybody is here for the burial and people also came from outside to witness the burial but we could not retrieve the bodies of our loved ones from the mortuary,” he said.
According to him, when family members arrived at the mortuary, they found the mortician absent.
“We got to the mortuary and discovered that the mortician was not there. We learnt that he was taken away and there was nobody to release the corpses,” he added.
Numve described the situation as unfortunate, insisting that the families had the right to bury their relatives.
“It is unfortunate that some people do not want us to carry out the burial but they are our brothers and sisters and we have the right to bury them on our own terms.
“Whoever took the mortician away will not determine how we will bury our brothers and sisters, and we will still fix another date to do it,” he said.
Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful as of the time of filing the report.
