Seventeen victims out of the 78 persons killed in the weekend attacks by the suspected AK47 wielding Fulani herdsmen on Tiv communities in Obi, Awe and Keana local government areas of Nasarawa state got mass burial amidst tears.
Seven dead bodies were given mass burial at a Christian cemetery in Lafia, the state capital, while ten were buried in a mass grave at
Keana Local Government Area of the state.
At the last count, no fewer than 78 people including three policemen deployed to keep peace in Keana and Awe Local Government Areas were
killed by the suspected killer herdsmen in Nasarawa since the renewed attacks on Tiv communities began last weekend.
Governor Tanko Al-makura had blamed the fresh killings of Tiv people on the alleged murder of some Fulani people at Yelawta, a border town between Nasarawa and Benue states of recent when he visited an IDP camp at Agwatashi, Tuesday.
President of Tiv Youth organization in Nasarawa state, comrade Peter Ahemba told journalists in Lafia yesterday that leadership of the Tiv
the community of Nasarawa state was left with no option than to bury the victims outside their places of abode against the Tiv tradition as the
gun-wielding herdsmen were still laying siege in the Tiv deserted villages unhindered.
“We were left with no option than to bury the victims outside their places of abodes (Lafia and Keana) the Tiv villages have all been
sacked and the invaders are still occupying most of them so we could not afford to risk more lives in going to bury those victims in their places of abode as demanded by our (Tiv) tradition”
“This is more than the corpses had already started decomposing at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist hospital Lafia due to congestion at the
hospital mortuary”.
The Tiv youth president further explained that apart from that buried enmass yesterday, many other victims had earlier been buried at
different locations across Awe, Keana, Obi and Doma Local Government Areas of the State, even as the search for the recovery of more casualties was ongoing in the affected communities.
Our correspondent who visited some of the internally displaced persons, IDPs camps observed the many of the fleeing Tiv villagers
were stranded in streets of Lafia, the state capital.
