Killer Herdsmen Are Boko Haram Fighters – Obaseki

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has stated that the herdsmen raping and killing women in the state were terrorists who had fled from fighting in the North-East of Nigeria.

Obaseki, who spoke on Wednesday when he visited the families of the two aged women who were allegedly slain by herdsmen, described the incident as a threat to national security, explaining that the killers were not ordinary herdsmen but Boko Haram fighters who fled from the war in the region.

The deceased, identified as Christiana Ariu and Matina Omonyon, had last week been reportedly raped and killed on their farms in Ewu community, Esan Central Local Government Area of the state.

The spokesperson for the community, Mr. Sydney Ikhajiagba, lamented that members of the community were living in fear and were afraid to go to their farms adding that, “When we got to the farm, we saw her naked and worms coming out of her mouth. She was dragged to the place where she was raped and killed. It was a pathetic sight. Such a thing has never happened in Ewu town”.

But the Governor said, “These are not just herdsmen. They are Boko Haram terrorists. But we are working hard to put an end to this”.

There had been several complaints from residents in several rural communities in the state over attacks by herdsmen. The development had prompted some of their representatives in the National Assembly to call on the Federal Government to step up security in the affected areas.

Also, the Ijiegbai of Ekperi, His Royal Highness, Deke Yakubu Kanoba, had in March, raised alarm that his subjects may not engage in farming activities this year over alleged presence of suspected terrorists lurking in a forest within the area, after fleeing from the North-Eastern part of the country.

HRH. Konoba, who spoke during a meeting of the Eminent Persons Forum with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Haliru Gwandu, had alleged that the said terrorists in the forest were armed with AK47 rifles.

 

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