FRESH violence has broken out in Enugu State amid reports that Fulani cattle herdsmen invaded Ndiagu Attakwu Akegbe-Ugwu community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state yesterday killing Catholic seminarian Lazarus Okafor.
On April 25, Fulani herdsmen carried out a brutal raid on Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State. In one of the most vicious communal clashes Nigeria has ever witnessed, the armed herdsmen attacked Nimbo with AK47 assault rifles and unleashed mayhem, killing about 48 persons.
It is feared that they returned to the area yesterday killing Mr Okafor and injuring four others, including a pregnant woman. It is believed that the suspected herders invaded the Ogbodo Nwarum family compound in the community at about 2am and wreaked havoc on the entire household.
While the seminarian had severe machete cuts which led to his death, the four others, including the landlord of the house Ogbodo Nwarum, his aged mother, pregnant wife and son, had their bowels ripped open by the herders who left them gasping for life. Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has since warned that the state would no longer tolerate the mindless killings by the suspected herdsmen, directing the security operatives to ensure that those who were involved in the dastardly act were fished out and made to face the full weight of the law.
Igwe Greg Ugwu, the traditional ruler of the community, said the attackers gained access into the building through the ceiling from where they jumped into the house and unbolted the panel door. He added that the incident left the entire community in tears as the four injured persons were rushed to the Mother of Christ Hospital and the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital.
"They had initially left deep cuts on the man of the house and ripped the bowels of the women including the pregnant woman to the point that their intestines gushed out. It was at that point that the seminarian who just graduated from the seminary, Spiritan International School of Theology, Atakwu and returned the previous day from school after graduation came out from his room to find out what was happening and unfortunately, they used their machete on him and he bled to death,” Igwe Okereke added.
Governor Ugwuanyi, who also led a team of security operatives to the Fulani settlement located at the forest near the community but without sighting any of the herders who obviously had fled the area with their families for fear of a reprisals, immediately summoned an emergency meeting of the Fulani community in the state and security operatives. The governor, who was accompanied on the visit by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rt Reverend Calistus Onaga, the director of the Department of State Services and other top government functionaries, promised to take care of the hospital bills of those receiving treatment.
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