6 killed as herdsmen strike in Kaduna for the second time in 2 weeks

Two weeks after 11 people were killed by suspected herdsmen in Godogodo, Jama’a local government area of Kaduna state, another six people have lost their lives in an attack by the suspects. 

The victims, who were mainly young people, were said to have been attacked in the farm on Saturday.

Several others were said to have escaped with gunshot wounds.

A community leader and a relation of one of the deceased, who did not want to be named, gave the names of those killed as Monday Hamza,  24;  Toma Masara, 35;  Chaka  Rubutu, 26; Julius Golkofa, 19;  Boboo Okocha, 18 and Sambo James, 17.

“Last Saturday, these young  men that were killed went out as a group to their farms with a few others,” he said.

“We were told that armed Fulani men had attacked them on their farms and some of them escaped with bullet wounds.

“A search party  on Sunday found them ridden with bullets and machete cuts and they were all dead. The police took their corpses to the  mortuary in Kafanchan.”

He said the incident had created fear and apprehension among  surrounding villages, with thousands of people migrating to Godogodo, a neighbouring community, out of fear of being attacked.

“Godogodo is full  to the brim with refuges who have fled their villages seeking for safety here because it is a bigger village on the highway and has better security,” he said.

“There is no day that someone is not killed by Fulani men around here.

“After that, the attack, they would cut down all the crops or move their  cattle into  the farm to eat the growing crops. They are going about from farm to farm, destroying our crops and killing people with their sophisticated weapons.

“There will be hunger this year because we cannot go to farm and our crops are being destroyed by the herdsmen. What they are saying is our villages are now cattle grazing reserves and they want everybody out.”

Haruna Usman, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said the herdsmen were on a mission  to avenge the killing of one of their leaders in one of the villages sometime ago.

According to him,  the herdsmen were not “crazy like that” to just kill someone.

Aliyu Usman, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, also confirmed the killings, saying some arrests had been made.

He added that further security measures had been taken to calm the growing tension in the area.