Nigerian Police feigning ignorance as herdsmen turn Delta communities to killing fields

Nigerian Police feigning ignorance as herdsmen turn Delta communities to killing fields The Police and residents of Delta communities r...

Nigerian Police feigning ignorance as herdsmen turn Delta communities to killing fields

The Police and residents of Delta communities recently attacked by killer herdsmen trade words over number of casualties, DELE OGUNYEMI report
Like a thunderbolt, a group of Fulani herdsmen dressed in military uniforms and armed with sophisticated weapons attacked some communities in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, killing many residents, including 10 farmers, and causing thousands of others to abandon their homes and flee.

Some of the affected communities included Avwan, Agadama and Ohoror in Uwheru Kingdom.

Eyewitness accounts claimed the attacks, which looked as if they were carefully planned, were unprovoked. The herdsmen had struck between Thursday and Friday. The following day, which was Saturday, more corpses were recovered after a combined team comprising residents of the communities and some military personnel combed the area for the bodies of the slain.

Shaken by the incidents, some leaders of the communities told journalists that killer herdsmen had laid siege to their communities and persistently attacked them at will.  They claimed that the number of casualties was certainly more than the 10 reported by the search party and more people were still missing.

“The attacks usually happen in the farms. As we speak, our people cannot go to their farms because the herdsmen have taken over almost all the communities. The communities are comfortably under their control,” one of the community leaders said.

Reacting to the development, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa condemned the killings and called for restraint on the part of the residents of the affected communities.

Okowa, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, said he had directed the Commissioner of Police and the Brigade Commander, 63 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Asaba, to, as a matter of urgency, ensure that peace was restored in the communities.

The statement read in part, “The governor charges the Nigerian Army to investigate the alleged involvement of its personnel in the crisis and fish out the perpetrators of the unwarranted killings.

 “The unwarranted attacks and the killing of innocent locals in Avwon, Agadama and Ohoror communities of Uwheru kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area and the wickedness of suspected criminal herdsmen alleged to be aided and abetted by unidentified military personnel are mindless.”

 Also reacting, the Urhobo Progress Union Worldwide called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to urgently put an end to what it described as ‘genocidal killing’ of indigenes of Uwheru Kingdom in Ughelli North LGA by suspected Fulani herdsmen operating in the area.

 In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the UPU Worldwide, Abel Oshevire, the group warned that the Urhobo might be forced to defend themselves against deadly attacks on their communities by the herdsmen.

The body added that no amount of intimidation could compel the people to vacate their lands for strangers.


But the Commissioner of Police for the State Command, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, while reacting to the development on Sunday described media reports citing the number of people killed in the community as moves by some individuals to cause apprehension in the state.

The CP said that a search party comprising the police and representatives of the community had combed the surrounding forest and found an injured resident, who was rushed to a hospital for treatment of the gunshot wounds sustained during the attacks.

 However, many residents of the communities were not pleased with the commissioner of police’s remark. They accused him of being economical with the truth.

Angered by the CP’s claim, the President-General of the Uwheru Kingdom, Cassidy Akpedafe, insisted that no fewer than 10 persons were killed by the herdsmen during the renewed attacks..

 He said: “Four of those killed were shot and placed by the bank of river in the forest, while two others were held hostage by the herdsmen. We have in the past few days, buried six persons. Three were buried on Thursday, while two others were buried on Saturday. The person rescued by the search team is one of the two persons held hostage by the herdsmen.

“At this point, we can’t help but wonder why the commissioner of police would fault media reports on the number of casualties when information on ground proved otherwise.”

As the tension over the attacks persisted, the people of Uhweru Kingdom resolved to exhume the bodies of the victims of the herdsmen attack and deposit them at the public mortuary for autopsy.

Three of the corpses were exhumed on Sunday evening after the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, paid a visit to the community. The following day, Akpedafe, in a meeting with journalists, accused the police of telling lies about the number of casualties from the attacks

He said, “What the police are saying is not true. On Sunday,. three corpses were taken to the mortuary. As we speak, seven persons are dead inside the bush and we have not recovered their dead bodies.   The three bodies taken to the mortuary were the ones we exhumed.”

 The President-General, about 17 persons were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. “If you go to the Central Hospital in Ughelli, you will see them. The police should not cook up a report.”

 Chief Akpedafe appealed to the Federal and Delta State Governments to secure the communities by ordering the herdsmen to leave. He said that no fewer than 86 residents were killed during attacks carried out by Fulani herdsmen in the kingdom in the last 12 years.

Omo-Agege confirmed that the corpses of some persons allegedly killed in the attacks were exhumed and taken to the Central Hospital in Ughelli for autopsy.

Also, the Commissioner for Higher Education and one of the leaders of Uwheru Kingdom, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, alleged that soldiers had forced residents of the community to exhume the corpses.

 On Monday, six additional corpses were exhumed from the shallow graves where the killer herdsmen had reportedly buried them. This brought the number of exhumed corpses to nine.

 The corpses were first taken to the Police Area Command Ughelli in three Diana Open Pick-Ups at about 7.30pm on Monday for the records before they were moved to the Ughelli Central Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.

Muoboghare confirmed this, saying, “Six corpses were exhumed on Monday under the supervision of soldiers and policemen. The six bodies were deposited at the mortuary in Ughelli.

 “The total number of corpses so far is nine, while the tenth victim is battling for his life in the hospital. Two more bodies are yet to be found.”

Confronted with the unfolding scenario, Inuwa on Tuesday admitted that his command received the six exhumed corpses of farmers allegedly killed by herdsmen at Uwheru in Ughelli North LGA.

 He said, “Six corpses exhumed by some people were brought to our police station in Ughelli. We were not there when they exhumed the corpses. We are investigating the matter because they alleged that the bodies belonged to those who were killed during the herders/farmers clash in some communities.

“It is the investigation that will tell us who killed them, who buried them, when they were buried, who exhumed them and what have you.

 “This is an issue of national security. If we discovered that there are some criminals who come here in the guise of herders or farmers to foment trouble, we will deal with them ruthlessly.”

Inuwa then told journalists that the police had been interfacing with the committee set up by Governor Okowa to handle issues between herders and farmers so that there would be peace in the state.

Source PUNCH