The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has said no fewer than 53 suspects have been arrested in connection with the recent wave of deadly attacks in Benue and Plateau states, which claimed many lives and left several others injured or displaced.

This was as the Governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, condemned the brutal killing of two young Kano indigenes, Barhama Suleiman and Jamilu Ahmad, in Makurdi, the capital of Benue.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has clarified that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa, did not blame victims for the unfortunate attack in Yelwata, Guma Local Council in Benue, where over 200 persons were reportedly killed .

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, Egbetokun described the June 13 massacre in Yelwata as a “coordinated attack of terror.”He said 26 were arrested for the attack in Yelwata, 22 in connection with the Plateau attacks and five in Benue for a more recent attack.

According to him, 47 persons were killed and 27 injured in the Yelwata attack, adding that two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) and eight AK-47 rifles used in the attack were recovered.

In a statement issued by the Kano governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Tofa, the two victims were profiled around 11 p.m. on Monday by yet-to-be-identified hoodlums and murdered in cold blood without provocation.

In the statement, the governor expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy, describing it as “barbaric, senseless and unacceptable.” He condemned the killings in the strongest terms and assured that the state government was working assiduously to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“It is with a heavy heart and deep sense of loss that we announce the passing of two promising sons of Kano. They were innocent, peace-loving citizens whose only crime was exercising their constitutional right to live and work in any part of Nigeria,” the governor said.

Commiserating with the bereaved families, Yusuf announced that he would personally lead a high-powered delegation, including the families of the deceased, to the funeral prayers scheduled to take place at the National Mosque in Abuja yesterday. On the purported blame game, the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen Tukur Gusau, said the statement of the CDS was twisted out of context.

“We categorically state that the interpretation and portrayal of the CDS’s comments by the National Coalition Against Mass Killings and Impunity (NCAMKI), as reported, are both misleading and taken out of context. At no point did the CDS intend to blame victims or justify the heinous acts perpetrated by criminal elements in Benue or elsewhere,” he said.

Gusau said the statement was aimed at drawing attention to the complex realities and challenges faced in conflict zones, particularly the tactics used by insurgent and criminal groups to infiltrate communities and exploit vulnerabilities.

The DHQ spokesman rejected insinuations that Musa’s remarks were “reckless, insensitive or provocative.”