No fewer than three police officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and eight farmers were reportedly killed in the MararabaUdege, Aisa and Aguma communities of Agatu chiefdom, Nasarawa by suspected Fulani herders.
In addition tot he killings, houses and food supplies were reportedly burned, with entire communities deserted.
Investigation by Daily Sun revealed that the murdered security operatives, who were on a mission to control the escalating conflict between Agatu and Fulani herders, were ambushed by the Fulani herders.
Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ismaila Usman of the Nasarawa State Command, who confirmed the incident to Daily Sun in Lafia, said: ”There was conflict between the Agatus and Fulani herdsmen, where an Agatu man shot a Fulani man on foot and went away with his motorcycle.”
According to him, “the Fulanis also went on reprisal attack. The attention of the police was drawn and the police quickly swung into action to ensure normalcy returned to the area. But, unfortunately, three of our men were ambushed and killed.”
The police spokesman said that the Command has deployed a team of officers headed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police to the area to maintain law and order.
The corpse of the deceased officers have been recovered and deposited in the morgue, he added.
Also speaking to newsmen, the paramount ruler of Agatu chiefdom, Alhaji Ahmed Kwanaki, said that about eight of his people were killed by the same Fulani herdsmen.
He gave the names of those killed as: Sale Ozala, Oyigoso Sale, Danladi Joko, Abdulahi Musa, Adamu Haruna, Musa Adamu, Yakubu Sale, and Shehu Sabo (a Bassa man).
The traditional chief, who was visibly angry, said the killings in his chiefdom continues unabated, and appealed to the state and federal governments to, as a matter of urgency, deploy the military to the area.
He confirmed that the security operatives earlier detailed to the troubled area were overpowered by the Fulani herdsmen, preventing them from accessing the interior where killings are rife.
State chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria Hussain Mohammed said that the Agatu people first killed some Fulani people before the Fulani retaliated.
He, however, condemned the killings of the three police officers, promising to help in identifying the perpetrators of the murders.
Meanwhile, in order to reduce tensions caused by the passage of the controversial anti-grazing law in three states, the federal government is considering suspending the implementation of the law, while negotiating safe routes for cattle herders.
This was part of discussions held at the security council meeting yesterday, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari with service chiefs in attendance.
The anti-grazing law is already operational in Benue, Ekiti and Taraba States, states that have experienced the most violence and a spate of mass murders since the law went into effect last year.
In Ekiti State, the law, signed by Governor Ayo Fayose in 2016, prohibits open grazing between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
Governor Samuel Ortom followed suit in 2017 with a law that places an absolute ban on open grazing across Benue State.
The law, which went into effect in November 2017, has been blamed for the escalating violence which has left hundreds of residents dead in attacks linked to Fulani herdsmen across Benue since January 1.
Taraba State passed the anti-grazing law on July 2017, but law came into effect in January 24th this year, with a caveat that it will be implemented gradually after aggressive awareness campaigns across the state.
Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali, in a statement signed by his Public Relations Officer (PRO), Colonel Tukur Gusau, suggested the ”need to employ other channels with the affected states to reduce tension by suspending the implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Law while also negotiating safe routes for the herders.
“The urgent need for the Nigeria Police and Department of State Services to prosecute all the suspects arrested in states. The need to hasten the establishment of a National Commission on the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria.”
Although the suspension of the law is in line with the demands of Miyetti Allah association of cattle herders, Dan-Ali’s positions is against past recommendations by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Economic Council (NEC) that the option of cattle ranching be adopted to end the frequent clashes that have left thousands of people dead and several farmlands raided and destroyed.
Dan-Alli also suggested the launch of a joint task force operation, similar to Operation SAFE HAVEN in Jos, with headquarters in Gusau, to cover Zamfara and Birnin Gwari axis of Kaduna State, where kidnappings and killings have also been on the rise.
According to the minister, the Council considered the killings and kidnapping in the North-West, particularly along Abuja-Kaduna expressway, even as the service chiefs reviewed the activities of armed bandits and other criminal elements in Anka, Maru, Kaura Namoda and Atalanta Mafara in Zamfara State.
While noting that incidents of herdsmen-farmers clashes in Benue and Taraba had subsided, the minister disclosed that several arrests had been made in connection with killings and destruction of property.
He added that he informed the Council that the US government conveyed to the federal government matters pertaining to the implementation of Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act Section 231.
“It is pertinent to state that the award of contract for the procurement of the Mi-35M helicopters was completed before the act was signed into law in August 2017,” he said.
The Nigerian Army, he noted, has launched Operations LAST HOLD to flush out insurgents from their hideouts in the Lake Chad Basin area and to liberate communities to enable IDPs return to their homes.
The operation, he said, is to last till the end of August.
Those at the meeting included Babagana Monguno, National Security Adviser; Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Defence; Ahmed Abubakar, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Ibrahim Idris, Inspector General of Police are attending the meeting.
Others in attendance are, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. TukurBuratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral IbokEkweIbas; and Representative of Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall AbubakarSadique.
In a similar development Insecurity in Calabar metropolis seem to be on the increase as about 10 suspected cult members have been killed in city in the last three days in a renewed clash allegedly between the Vikings and Axe confraternities.
Cross River communities in recent times have been faced with insecurity ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery to cultism.
The recent cult war is said to have started a week ago when the two contending cult groups cult groups clashed at a burial leading to death of one of the gang leaders.
Sources said all efforts to bring the two rival two negotiating tables failed, leading to the on-going massacre between the two groups.
Investigations by revealed that while three suspected cultists were gunned to death at Ekondo Street, Mayne Avenue and Wilkie Street all in Calabar South last Sunday, one Agbani was gruesomely murdered at Ediba Qua axis of the metropolis on Sunday.
It was learnt that last Monday evening there was a reprisal attack as about four other cultists were mercilessly killed along Atekong drive and Marian in Calabar Municipal.
An eyewitness, John Okpo, said a tiller, identified as Big Emma was also killed around Ediba Road by OkonInok Street in Calabar municipality.
Okpo said: “We were here this morning when a group of guys started chasing Emma (one of the victims) from up Ediba and they later caught him around Ediba by OkonInok where they mercilessly murdered the guy. Emma was even a tiler.
“I wonder why he went and put his hands in such dirty act, following those that don’t have anything to offer. Just imagine how he’s wasted his life. It was after Emma was killed that the Police arrived the scenes chasing some culprits which left the market in disarray.”