••• Two Vigilantes Killed in Reprisal Attack over death of two gunmen in FCT community.
By Attah Ede
A Fulani herdsman whose identity is yet to be known, somersaulted from a tree and died instantly in Gurufufu community in Kuje Area Council of the FCT.
A source from the community who identified himself as Bako Hussain, said the dead victim had climbed a tree to cut down its branches for his cattle.
According to him, the herder, alongside one of his sons, were rearing cows near his farm when the deceased who climbed a tree to cut part of the tree branches to feed his cows, later fell down and died instantly.
“The deceased suddenly lost step after putting his leg on one of the tree branches and he fell and hit his head on a big stone under the tree.
“I was working on my farm when the son of the deceased herder ran to tell me that his father has fallen from the top of the tree.
“I abandoned the work I was doing and quickly rushed to the scene where the man was on the ground, bleeding from his mouth and nose with deep cut on his head.”
“I immediately inform the deceased’s kinsmen at the camp near the village and some herders came and conveyed him to the hospital in Kwaku village where he was confirmed dead.
Meanwhile, armed men have reportedly attacked and killed two vigilantes at Mayaki, near Zago, a border community between Abaji Area Council of the FCT and Lapai LGA of Niger State.
The vigilantes were reportedly riding on a motorcycle when their assailants gunned them down.
A member of the vigilante group in the area, Shuaibu Adamu and a relative of one of the victims, confirmed the incident to our reporter on telephone on Friday.
He stated that the incident occurred around 5:22 pm as his two colleagues were returning from Gulu market on Thursday.
“The gunmen emerged from the bush at a difficult section of the road and shot the victims in their chests and abdomen.
“It was some villagers, who were returning from Gulu market to Mayaki village, that saw the two corpses and their bike by the roadside.
“They came to inform our other members before we mobilised to the scene,” he said.
According to Adamu, the two vigilantes were transported by bike to a hospital in Gulu town, where doctors confirmed them dead.
“The remains of one of them were taken to his village and buried. This incident is a reprisal attack.
“Because two weeks ago, two gunmen were killed when they attempted to rustle cows at a settlement in Mayaki village, within the Abaji Area Council of the FCT” he said.
He appealed to the authorities of both Abaji Area Council and Lapai LGA in Niger State to form a synergy to tackle the incessant attacks by gunmen around the borders of the FCT and Niger State.
SP Josephine Adeh, the spokesperson of the FCT police command, could not be reached for comments on the incident at the time of filing this report.
