Fulani herdsmen kill villager in Ekiti

Tragedy hit Oke Ako com­munity in Ikole Local Gov­ernment Area of Ekiti State on Friday night as suspected Fu­lani herdsmen attacked the town and killed one resident.

An eyewitness confirmed to journalists that the gory incident happened at about 8pm.
A woman, who identified her­self as Mrs. Grace Olofin, had in a telephone interview alleged that the herdsmen, who were in large numbers, invaded the commu­nity and brandished dangerous weapons like guns, bows, arrows, swords, matchetes and hacked down the victim in the ensuing melee.

Olofin further alleged that the invaders also shot sporadically into the air and killed one Lekan Arosanyin , while four others sus­tained various degrees of injuries and were said to be receiving treat­ment at a private hospital in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Another witness who narrowly escaped being killed, Adebayo Ajayi, recalled that the herdsmen had previously fallen out with the community over their grazing ac­tivities.
He further explained that the villagers had been resisting the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.



He further explained that the villagers had been resisting the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.

The Divisional Police Officer in the area who also spoke on telephone, confirmed the incident noting that he could not ascer­tain whether the incident was an armed robbery or Fulani herds­men attack.
However, the residents have blamed the police in the area for failing to act swiftly when the case was reported to them during the attack.

One of the residents, Muyiwa Olukosi, whose wife sustained matchete wounds, told news­men that the police demanded for a sum N12,000 before they could move to the scene as he said policemen complained that they had no fuel in their Hilux patrol van.

Olukosi pointed out that the situation could have been worse but for the prompt response of a team of the Nigerian Army from Akure, even before the arrival of police in the area.

He also stressed that the at­tack would have been prevented had the police acted swiftly and called on the governments at all levels to beef up security in the area in order to avert a recur­rence.