At least 15 villagers left dead as Fulani cattle herdsmen carry out another attack in Adamawa

FULANI cattle herdsmen have launched a fresh assault in Adamawa State attacking Kodomun village in Demsa Local Government Area that resulted in the loss of 15 lives and left many injured.

 

Of late, attacks by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has become a recent occurrence as heavily armed groups ransack villages with dire consequences. Disputes which start off as altercations over grazing rights and destruction to farm crops, end up in bloody battles with gangs of Fulanis with AK47s assault rifles raising communities top the ground.

 

Despite calls from affected communities on the government to address the problem, it has continued unabated. Earlier this week, the latest attack on Kodomun and some neighbouring villagers rook place around 6pm when the villagers were resting after a burial of an old woman.

 

Apparently, the crisis had started in January this year involving the herdsmen and Koh community, resulting to the killing of many farmers including a police officer who was the Divisional Police Officer of Vonokilang Division under Girei Local Government Area in the state. Some villagers who escaped from the area said that the casualty figure might be much higher as scores of others are still missing in the hinterland.

 

Brigadier General Benson Akiroluyo, the commander of the 23rd Armoured Brigade, Yola, the Adamawa State police commissioner Mohammed Ghazzali and state deputy governor, Martins Babable, visited the area yesterday for an on-the-spot assessment. They also visited the paramount ruler of Batta, Hamman Batta, Chief Alhamdu Teneke to commiserate with him on the incident.

 

Lumsan Dilli, the parliamentarian representing Demsa Constituency in the Adamawa State House of Assembly, disclosed that the causality figures given by the villagers was higher. According to him, some people were declared missing and most of them are presumed dead.

He added that the migrating herdsmen continued to kill, maim and burn villages as they move from one destination to the other for grazing, pointing out that the dead bodies unaccounted for are more than the ones that had been recovered. Mr Dilli called for serious security intervention to prevent the situation from degenerating to a full blown war as the affected villagers are mobilising for reprisal attacks.