Herdsmen who recently assaulted the area are said to have killed no less than 38 inhabitants of the Takalafia and Gwanja communities in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The attack, which lasted from 9 p.m. on Thursday into the early hours of Friday, claimed the lives of Rev. Daniel Danbeki, the local pastor-in-charge of the Evangelical Church Winning All, and 37 other people.
However, a mass burial for the attack victims, which included women and children, was held on Saturday.
A government delegation was led by the state’s deputy governor, Emmanuel Akabe, to the mass burial, which was held in front of mourners and other community members.
Akabe denounced the senseless killings and damage of property worth millions of naira while speaking during the mass burial.
He expressed outrage over the deaths and gave the assurance that the state administration will look into the circumstances leading up to the attacks and prosecute those responsible, adding that the displaced residents of the region would receive relief supplies.
Prior to the mass burial, James Thomas, the Executive Chairman of the Karu LGA, visited the communities that had been assaulted. He strongly denounced the herdsmen’s attack.
Nevertheless, Thomas, who was represented by his deputy Lawal Karshi, pleaded for composure and promised to cooperate closely with the security services to apprehend the perpetrators of the act so that they may face the full force of the law.
According to reports, dispute between the farmer and the herdsman, who brought his cows to graze on a groundnut and maize field, was the cause of the attack.
The farmer and the herdsman got into a violent fight when the cows entirely devoured the crops, which infuriated the farmer.
“As the farmer was talking to the herdsman to send his cows out of his (farmer’s) farm, a fierce disagreement ensued and the herdsman brought out his cutlass and started fighting the farmer; but the farmer overpowered him, snatched his cutlass and fought him back, and the herdsman died.
“This was what led to the killings of residents of this area by the herdsmen,” a source said.
As of the time of this report, dead bodies of victims who escaped with bullet wounds during the attack in Takalafia and Gwanja communities are still being recovered from bushes in the area, and are taken to the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi LGA of the state.
