Despite security measures, suspected herdsmen attack Plateau community, kill farmer

Despite the several security measures put in place by Governor Simon Lalong, and the presence of a curfew, gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, have attacked another community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, killing a farmer, destroying farmlands and injuring others.

According to the Publicity Secretary of the Miango Youths Development Association (MYDA), Nuhu Bitrus, the incident happened on Tuesday when a 43 year-old farmer identified as Monday Audu, went to his farm to harvest his crop in Renwienku village of Miango district of the local government alongside other farmers.

Bitrus, who confirmed the attack to Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday, said the herdsmen who were heavily armed, suddenly emerged from the bush and attacked the farmers, killing Audu in the process while others managed to escape with injuries.

After killing the farmer and chasing the others away, the attackers then went ahead to destroy the farmlands before escaping to where they came from.

“We are still mourning those killed in previous attacks and now. They have killed one of our people again. The latest incident happened on Tuesday afternoon,” Bitrus said.

Read also: Buhari vows to crush perpetrators of Plateau unrest, preaches peace in communities

“Those who managed to escape the attack went straight to the a nearby police station to report the incident but the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the locality would not deploy his men to the scene to try and apprehend the culprits. It is so sad that even till now, the police and other security agencies have not said anything on the attack,” he added.

An elder brother to the deceased, John Ize, who was one of those that escaped the attack, said:

“We were three in the farm around 2pm when we saw about 15 herders with many cows. We thought they were just passing by while grazing their cattle.

“But suddenly, one of them fired a gunshot at my brother who was closer to them and killed him. It was then that my daughter and I immediately dived into a nearby ditch and started crawling.

“As we started running, they fired at us but luckily, none of their bullets got any of us. That was how we escaped.”

Ize said his brother had been buried in the community after his remains were recovered from the farm.

When Ripples Nigeria contacted the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Ubah Ogaba, he said he had heard of the incident but would get back to us when he had more details from the Miango DPO but at the time of filing this report, he was yet to revert.

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