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By Mufta’u Balogun
About 25 persons were on Monday killed by suspected herdsmen in parts of Nasarawa, Anambra and Ekiti states.
The suspected herdsmen killed 16 and injured 18 during a naming ceremony in Noma Village of Andaha in Akwanga Local Government area of Nasarawa state.
While six persons were killed in Anambra, Ekiti lost two persons in an attack traced to another group of suspected herdsmen.
An eyewitness to the Noma attack said the incident took place during the ceremony, as some persons started shooting sporadically at people.
“So, we all started running towards a Fulani settlement very close to the venue of the ceremony, then another gun shot started from the direction of the settlement,” he said.
Lamenting the killings of the Mada people of Andaha in Akwanga by herdsmen, paramount ruler of Akwanga, Samson Gamuyare, said the attack was unprovoked, adding that such attacks have become too frequent.
“This is the second time in three weeks when Fulani militia will attack the Mada people. It is sad to see defenceless women and children being massacred in cold blood for no just cause,” he said.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mohammed Akira, said the force recovered 16 bodies from Noma Village following the attack.
Also responding to the incident, representative of Nasarawa North Senatorial district, Phillip Kyunka, said the zone has been taken over by suspected Fulani kidnappers, armed robbers and militia groups who kill and destroy lives wantonly.
Besides, National leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo youth wing, Arthur Obiorah Uchena, has condemned the killing of six farmers at Mmiata Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Obiorah lamented that those attacked were youths who died in their prime, while their hunters have been living without being prosecuted.
The group tasked South-East governors to act in one voice to condemn and checkmate herdsmen invasion of farmers in Mmiata Anam, describing the attack as a dastardly act.
Also, herders killed no fewer than two persons at Iyemero-Ekiti and injured three other persons during an attack at Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The assailants invaded a farmstead at midnight in Eda, one of the communities under Iyemero town.
Eyewitnesses identified one of the deceased as Danjuma Ali, a farmer, while the identity of the second person, whose remain had been deposited at the Ikole-Ekiti General Hospital morgue, could not be ascertained at press time.
The Olu of Eyemero, Oba Ogungbemi and Olu-In-Council, restated their calls for establishment of a police station in the town to curb the incessant attacks.
