Vigilante Killed, 2 Injured In FCT Farmers, Herder Clash

There was tension in Dobi community in Gwagwalada area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday, which led to the destruction of houses and the killing of a vigilante in the community.

Information gathered that during the crisis, a 32-year-old vigilante, Iliyasu Shuaibu Kolo, died while two others sustained matchet cut injuries.

A resident of Dobi, Samaila Yakubu, while narrating the incident said the crisis started at around 6:pm after a teenage Fulani allegedly moved cattle into a farm in the area.

He said the owner of the farm who is a native of the area arrested the teenage Fulani boy and handed him to a vigilante in the area, which he said the deceased vigilante moved to the scene to see for himself the damage caused by the cows.

“It was upon arriving at the farm and not knowing some of the herders wielding machetes were hiding under a hill. And before the vigilante realized what was happening, some of the herders attacked him with cutlasses,” he said.

Yakubu said some residents who got information about the incident immediately mobilized to the farm, where he said two among the natives sustained matchet cut injuries when a heated argument broke out among them.

He said the vigilante member who sustained injuries later died while being conveyed to the hospital in Gwagwalada, and that the remains of the deceased vigilante were buried according to Islamic rites on Wednesday, morning in the community.

When contacted, the Gwagwalada area council branch chairman of the Miyyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) Malam Umar Shehu, confirmed the farmers/herders clash, saying he is in a meeting with the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri, but will call later.

However, the chairman of Gwagwalada area council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri has given a matching order to security agents to fish out those behind farmers/herders clashes at Dobi village of the council.

Giri, who gave the charge when he was led by security agents on the spot assessment to the clash scene on Thursday, described the killing of the vigilante as barbaric and inhuman.

He said he was saddened over the incessant cases of farmers/herders clashes in the area while condemning the incident.

The chairman, who also visited the family of the late vigilante, sympathised with them over the loss, while praying for the soul of the deceased to rest in peace and wished those injured quick recovery.

He commended the security agents for their proactive measures taken to forestall further breaches of law and order while calling on residents of the area to remain calm and go about their lawful activities.