A bloody community clash was averted on Sunday after Fulani Herdsmen murdered a farmer in Kogi state.
We learnt that on 9th Feb., 2017, an old man named Kadiri Musa; married with three wives and an indigene of Egbolo community in Igalamela-Odolu area of Kogi State had gone to monitor his cashew plantation at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon but met his untimely death after he saw some Fulani herdsmen in his farm plucking his cashew.
Thinking they were common cashew-nut thieves, he raised alarm. The Fulani herdsmen wasted no time in pursuing Musa before shooting him on his waist. He fell on his back and one of the herdsmen shot him in the face, killing him instantly.
The community immediately reported to the police but were dissatisfied with the level of investigation the police carried out and decided to take matters into their own hands. Provoked by the gruesomeness of the murder, the youths of Egbolo community began a search around their community and a couple of days later found a Fulani man and retaliated by killing the him in the same brutal fashion.
On hearing of the killing of their kinsman,the fulani community in their multitude invaded Egbolo community with teams of policemen in vans, in search of the corpse of their man.
Sighting this scenario, residents of the entire Egbolo community, who were still mourning the loss of Musa, who was also a community leader, took to their heels for the neighboring communities for fear of violence.
The looming crisis was averted by a house member representing Igalamela/Odolu state constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly, Elder Friday Sanni Makama. He invited both leaders of both communities including family members of the deceased and appealed to them to embrace peace.
