Again, Suspected Herdsmen Kill Six in Nasarawa

Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia
Six Tiv farmers were reportedly killed by suspected herdsmen in separate attacks on Jimin Nyaku village of Aloshi Chiefdom and Gidan Ayua in Kadarko district both in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The attack on Jimin Nyaku village was reported to have occurred at the early hours of last Saturday where a father and his son were brutally murdered by the attackers.
Similarly, four other persons were yesterday reported to have been killed at Gidan Ayua; an outskirt of Kadarko town on the Nasarawa/Benue border.

One of the villagers, Terwase Adagher, who narrowly escaped from one of the attacks, explained that the gunmen who were said to be on a reprisal mission, appeared from a nearby bush and opened fire on their victims and consequently killing four on a spot.

“We were sitting in our compound at Gidan Ayua yesterday (Sunday) at about 7p.m. when some herdsmen, armed with sophisticated weapons in their large numbers suddenly appeared from a nearby bush and started shooting sporadically. I narrowly escaped by God’s grace but four of my relations were killed by the attackers,” Adagher narrated.

President of Tiv Youth Organisation in Nasarawa State, Peter Ahemba, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the bodies of the victims had been deposited at the mortuary unit of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital in Lafia.
He, however, condemned the incessant attacks on members of Tiv community of the state by suspected herdsmen hence calling on the police and other security agencies to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators for the sake of justice.

Ahemba regretted that the Tiv community in Nasarawa State has lost over 87 persons in similar attacks by armed herdsmen including the destruction of property worth billions of naira between
January this year to date because of the implementation of the anti-open grazing law by the Benue State government which the Tiv people of Nasarawa State have no hand in its initiation and implementation.

“Those attacking and killing our people because of a law in Benue State are not being fair to us. We are citizens of Nasarawa state, so why killing us because of what we don’t know?,” Ahemba lamented.
But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Nasarawa State Police Command, Idirisu Kennedy, confirmed that only three persons were killed during the attacks.

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