Suspected herdsmen reportedly kill 16 in Nasarawa community
- Gunmen have reportedly killed 16 people in Nasarawa community during a naming ceremony
- The celebrants made up of a man, his wife and baby were among those killed during the attack on Sunday, April 14
- Some of the assassins where identified and some names were mentioned and handed over to the security agents
Suspected gunmen reportedly attacked Numa village in Andaha community of Akwanga local government area of Nasarawa state and killed 16 Mada natives during a naming ceremony on Sunday, April 14.
The Nation reports that the incident was coming barely three weeks after it was reported that some suspected herdsmen rap.ed a Mada girl to death which had sparked off a face-off between the herdsmen and the natives.
Legit.ng gathered that while confirming the ugly incident to journalists in Akwanga, the headquarters of Akwanga local government, the senator representing Nasarawa north senatorial zone in the National Assembly, Senator Philip Aruwa Gyunka, said the celebrants made up of the father, mother and the son were killed during the attack.
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The senator described the killings as unfortunate, barbaric and uncalled for.
Senator Gyunka said: “The unfortunate thing is that both the celebrants - the father, mother and the boy were killed. A pregnant woman is involved in this attack. An aged person above 100 years is also involved in the attack. They did not spare women or children and this are the people that don’t have arms."
Gyunka also noted that he recently moved a motion on the floor of the Senate calling on the federal government to establish a Military base in Akwanga.
“You can see that incidents of kidnapping and robbery on the Akwanga – Abuja road. This is as result of people moving with weapons unchecked," Gyunka explained.
Also, the paramount ruler of the Mada nation, HRH Samuel Gamu-Yare, while speaking to journalists in his palace about the attack on his subjects, said the incident happened like a thunder strike in the night and the terrain was too accessible for the herdsmen.
It was gathered that Gamu-Yare, who is the Chun Mada, confirmed that 16 people of Mada extraction died in the attack.
“We have 16 deaths while several others were critically wounded. The militias attacked the celebrant during the naming ceremony before they suddenly resolve to sporadic shooting. Some of the assassins we’re identified and some names were mentioned and handed over to the security agents,” the monarch revealed.
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According to the Mada monarch, “the situation is quite unfortunate, devastating that a peaceful, law abiding and innocent community like mine, which over decades have never involved in skirmishes either internally or externally, would be attacked when in celebration mood of a naming ceremony by men suspected to be herdsmen.”
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that gunmen on Wednesday, March 27, attacked Suleiman Abubakar, chairman of correspondents’ chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Nasarawa state and abducted his wife, Yahanasu Abubakar.
Suleiman said that the incident happened at about 7pm along Gudi-Garaku road in Akwanga local government area of the state. According to Suleiman, the gunmen shot at the union bus they were travelling in from Keffi, where his wife went to register at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp.
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Source: Legit.ng
