There was disquiet in Egbe, commercial nerve of Yagba West Council, Kogi State on Independence Day as a yet unidentified group nomadic herdsmen attack one Kola Oloripupa while working on his farm, leaving him in a pool of his blood.
The incident led to a reprisal attack as youths swooped on the popular Egbe Market, causing pandemonium, during which some Fulani were made to pay for the sins of their kinsmen.
The fresh unrest once again has thrown Yagba West Council into tension, few months after similar incident occasioned by the killing of a local farmer by herdsmen led to the burning of the Sabo (Hausa/Fulani Market/settlement) and sacking of Fulani residents from the community. The resultant curfew imposed on Egbe community since the last incident is still in force as at the time of the latest incident.
According to eyewitness accounts, the incident occurred on Tuesday, which was Egbe Market Day. The victim, Kola Oloripupa was said to be working in his farmland along Egbe-Eruku-Ilorin road in company of his son, when a traveling group of herdsmen and their families suddenly appeared amidst their herds. The victim, alerted, was said to have told the visitors in local Yoruba dialect that they should avoid encroaching his farmland, his language obviously not understood by the visitors.
“Initially, they (herdsmen) appeared to understand him, because they went their way, while the farmer and son resumed their work.
Suddenly some of the herdsmen, numbering three, reappeared with machetes and descended on Kola. The first attempt on his head was blocked by his right harm but which cut that arm into pieces, as he went down helpless. From that moment, they descended on him, machete him severally and left him in the pool of his blood, perhaps they thought he was dead.”
While this lasted, his son was said to have fled into the bushes. He got missing in the process. Eventually, he ran into timber workers in the forest, who led him back to the scene. They met Kola though cold in his pool of blood, with deep cuts on his neck and several other parts of his body, he was found breathing. They immediately alerted Kola’s family who got in touch with the divisional police office in Egbe. The prompt police intervention was said to have paid off as the victim was promptly moved in the police van to ECWA Hospital, Egbe, where he is said to stand a 50-50 chance between life and death.
Once news filtered into town, angry youths were said to have gone on rampage. Their immediate port of call was the thickly populated Egbe Market with Fulani s as their target. An unlucky Fulaini sighted in the market was said to have been beaten to a pulp and was only saved from being killed by the police, who arrived the scene upon being alerted by community leaders. He was said to have helped himself when he feigned death. He is said to be recuperating at the Cottage Hospital, Egbe at the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, angered by the action of the police, the youths were said to have besieged the Egbe Police station, accusing the police of harboring “enemies”. In the process of dispersing the mob, the policemen fired teargas canisters into the crowd while the youths responded by throwing missiles, threatening to burn the police station.
Vice Chairman of Yagba West Council, Mr Omoniyi Adeyemi, who confirmed the incident to our reporter, expressed fears for the possible escalation of the crisis. A major security concern to Egbe residents who spoke to our reporter is the fear of possible reinforcement by the Fulanis resident around the border community in revenge of the serial reprisal attacks.
