4 killed, others missing as migrating herders pass through Niger community

Four people were reportedly killed over the weekend at Aji-kasa, a community in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State.

The vigilante leader in the area, Hussaini Abubakar, while speaking to City & Crime yesterday, said two of the persons killed were locals, while the other two were Fulani residents who moved into the community from Kagarko, in Kaduna State, a few months back.

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City & Crime learnt that trouble started on Saturday after some migrating herders made a stopover inside a farm owned by two siblings, Bello and Bala and started cutting tree branches to feed their cows.

 “The farm owners confronted them against that, and in the process, the herders used cutlasses to inflict injuries on them. Bello died instantly, while Bala managed to get home before he also died from bleeding,’’ Abubakar added.

He said the migrating herders, who committed the atrocities on the outskirts of the town, fled the area immediately and could not be traced by the time the community got the hint and mobilized to the scene.

Also speaking, a Fulani leader in the area, Muhammad Babandede, said the locals who could not trace the migrating herders, went to a grazing field close to the community known as Dogon-Kurmi, and killed the two Fulani people, as a form of reprisal.

 “They also burnt down a helmet owned by the resident herders, who are now displaced by the incidents,’’ he said.

Babandede added that a search was still on as of yesterday to trace two other members who were grazing along with the two herders killed. 

He said many cows were killed while some were rustled in the incident. 

Responding, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sabon-Wuse, CSP Lateef Biodun, who confirmed the killing of the four people, added that leaders from the two parties are trying to calm the situation, while investigation into the matter is ongoing.