We’ve no hand in killing of 5 herdsmen – Abia community

Leaders of Mbaugwu-Uturu community in Isikwuato Local
Government Area of Abia State have denied any involvement in
the abduction and killing of five Fulani herdsmen by suspected
gunmen at the weekend.

The herdsmen were allegedly abducted in the bush when their
cattle grazed on some farmers’ crops in the community.

The South East Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Alhaji Gidado Siddiki told our
correspondent that the kidnap of the herdsmen was manipulated
by the local vigilantes in the incident, but in a reaction, the
President-General of Mbaugwu-Uturu Community, Mr. Maduike
Damian, refuted Siddiki’s allegation.

He said, “The act was not carried out by our people and we have
mobilised our youths to assist the police in fishing out the cul­
prits. I married from the North, so I wouldn’t support any act that
will bring us on a collision course with the Fulani. The report
available to me has it that there are a group of hoodlums living in
that bush for about a year now. I was surprised.”

In his own narration, Alhaji Siddiki had claimed that two herdsmen
were first abducted before three others were taken by a gang of
vigilantes.

He added, “Some gangs who claimed to be vigilantes in Ngodo,
Mbaugwu-Uturu community, Abia State, invaded the camp of two
Fulani herdsmen and abducted them. Their cows, as a result,
were scattered in the bush. When they didn’t return to the camp
the following morning, their colleagues at a general camp thought
that they missed their way. So, three persons went to search for
them. Sadly, the three were equally abducted by the same gang
as they went without weapons. We went to Okigwe Divisional
Police Station, Imo State, to report the matter but they said that
that area is not under their jurisdiction. So, we went to Isikwuato
Police Division, they also declined having jurisdiction there. We
had no option than to report to the military in Abia State.”

In an earlier twist to the story, the Department of State Security
(DSS) had fingered the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) over
the kidnap and killing of the five Fulani herdsmen whose bodies
were later discovered at the Umuanyi forest in Abia State, where
they were suspected to have been killed.

In a statement released by Tony Opuiyo, DSS spokesperson on
Saturday, the security agency had said, “The Service has
uncovered the heinous role played by members of the Indigenous
Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in the abduction/kidnap of five Hausa-
Fulani residents, namely Mohammed Gainako, Ibrahim
Mohammed, Idris Yakubu, and Isa Mohammed Rago at
Isuikwuato LGA in Abia State.

“The abducted men were later discovered at the Umuanyi forest,
Abia State, where they were suspected to have been killed by
their abductors and buried in shallow graves, amidst 50 other
shallow graves of unidentified persons. Arrest and investigation
conducted so far revealed that elements within the IPOB carried
out this dastardly action.”

When contacted over the development, the Abia State Police
Public Relations Officer DSP Ezekiel Onyeke Udeviotu, said the
incident does not fall within the jurisdiction of the state.

~Daily Trust