National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Olabode Adaramola, Minna
At least no fewer than nine bodies have been recovered from the weekend attack by Fulani herds’ men in Rafin Gona and BCC Gbagyi villages in Bosso local government of Niger state while about 6000 villagers have also been displaced in the wake of the communal crisis.
The Council Chairman, Alhaji Isah Wakili stated this on Sunday while conducting national assembly members representing the areas at the National Assembly, Abuja, Senator David Umaru and his counterpart from the House of Representatives, Hon. Salihu Shandafi, round the affected villages on sympathy visit.
Wakili said that one Inspector of police and an Assistant Superintendent Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were also killed during the attack, saying that more bodies were still being recovered from nearby bush.
He explained that almost all the houses in the villages including yams and corn barns were completely burnt down during the attack while the total cost of damaged properties were estimated at over N700million.
He said that over 3000 villagers were displaced from Rafin Gona while over 2,000 others were from BCC village, highlighting that about 1,000 displaced fulanis were at IDP camp located inside a private farm belonging to former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar(rtd.)
Speaking with journalists on Sunday in one of the villages, Senator David Umaru representing Niger East Senatorial District at the National Assembly Abuja described the attack as barbaric, inhuman and a dastardly act.
He said, “what I have seen is heart breaking, it is an act of wickedness and complete disregard to human live. This is a very serious problem, a lot of people have been displaced. Most of them have fled from their houses and even if they were here, they would not have anywhere to stay because their houses have been burnt down including clothes and food barns. This kind of situation is not acceptable”.
He stressed the need for government to take decisive action to stop re occurrence of such attacks, adding that government should also act fast in providing relief materials to the victims to prevent humanitarian crisis in the affected villages.
He sympathized with the villagers and urged them to continue to maintain peace while assuring that he was going to take up the matter at the Senate towards finding lasting solution to the problem of herds’ men/ farmers clash in the senatorial zone.
According to him, “the Senate has set up a committee on this Fulani herdsmen and communal clashes I will liaise with the committee to also look into this problem in this constituency”.
