There is tension in the Egbeda community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State following the killing is a 26-year-old man by a herdsman.
This was as the residents of the area have lamented continued invasion of their farmlands by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
It was gathered a 26-year-old man, Nonye Nwa-Omoku, was shot dead by a herdsman in the community last Thursday without any provocation.
A source, who claimed he escaped death by the whisker disclosed that the incident occurred in the evening when they saw a herder approaching their direction.
The source, who preferred anonymity said: “We don’t even know what happened. We just saw the Fulani man coming towards us. Next thing, he shot my direction, I dodged,
“He was now asking, where is that my brother. He followed him and shot him two times. My brother fell. We didn’t do anything to him,” he lamented.”
Meanwhile, a relative of the disease, Confidence Wellington, noted that the residents who are mainly farmers were now afraid of going to their farmlands as a result of the incident.
“Fulani herdsmen have been threatening us and our farmlands. If my people have farmlands of letting me say 200 kilometres, Fulani herdsmen have taken over 107 kilometres.
“If you go into the bush where my people, elders, our mothers are farming, these herdsmen will threaten them and chase them out. Now they have killed my younger brother. So, we are begging the state government to help us, chase away these herdsmen from our community and protect us,” Wellington said.
The Youth President of the Egbeda community, Ifeanyi Ezeocha condemned the incident and urged the people not to take laws into their hands.
Ezeocha said: “We are law-abiding citizens. We don’t want to take laws into our hands. We have reported the activities of the Fulani herdsmen to the police, DSS (Department of State Services).
“Even the Commissioner of Police is aware of what they have been doing here. Now our mothers and fathers are scared of going to the farm because of what just happened. Nobody knows who will be the next. We don’t have any problem with them. They have been grazing in our farmlands. Sometimes they destroy all the crops in our farms with their cows.
“Let the state government and security agencies come to our aid because we cannot continue like this,” he added.
However, spokesman of the state police command, SP. Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, noting the matter was under investigation.
Omoni said: “The CP (Commissioner of Police) has ordered an investigation into it with a view to unravel what happened and bring anyone found culpable to justice. We have been able to restore normalcy. So for now we have asked all the parties to sheath their swords and await the outcome of our investigation,”Omoni stated.”
Vanguard
