Herders attack timber operator in Kuje community

Herders have allegedly attacked a timber operator, Adamu Bako, in Tude village, Kuje Area Council.

A resident of the community, Saidu Usman, said the incident happened at around 1:23 pm on Friday when the timber operator and his boy went into a forest in the village to cut down a tree.

He said he was on his farm when he saw the two herders who were with their cows attack the victim and he ran home to alert the community.

He said the two herders queried the victim for coming into the forest to cut down trees, adding, “Before I realised what was happening, one of them hit the operator on the hand and head with a cutlass, while the other used his stick to hit the boy.”

“I overheard them quarrelling with the timber operator for coming to the forest to cut down trees. They asked him if he didn’t know that the forest was a no-go area,” he said.

He said youths in the village mobilised to the forest to convey the victim to the hospital, while the boy who had a fractured leg was also taken to a herbalist for treatment.

A community leader, who preferred anonymity, confirmed the incident to our reporter, saying, “A similar incident happened last week at a neighbouring village, Kutada, where another timber operator was allegedly killed in a forest,” he said.

Efforts to confirm the incident proved abortive as the spokesman of the FCT police command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, did not pick calls put through to his number and also did not reply to a text message sent him.