The Plateau State Police Command has said it arrested a herdsman identified as Abdulrahman Kaila for allegedly cutting off a farmer’s hand in the Lakushi community, Shendam Local Government Area of the state.
Last week, a video of the farmer cradling his amputated right hand with blood flowing on the ground went viral on social media.
In the short video, he is overheard telling three men that a Fulani herder severed his hand because he asked him (herder) to move his animals out of his farm.
The two men then advised the farmer who was spotted bleeding heavily to go to the hospital for treatment while they reported the event to the authorities.
The spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred told The PUNCH in Jos on Sunday that arrangements had been concluded to arraign the suspect in court.
The PPRO said, “We have arrested the suspect who chopped off a person’s hand. He is in our custody right now. We were able to arrest him through our intelligence network. So it is not as if he surrendered himself willingly. It is our strategy at play and we won’t disclose it.
“When police got the news, the commissioner of police instructed the DPO to go after the perpetrator, and after a swift reaction by the DPO, the suspect was arrested and he gave us his reason for cutting the hand of the farmer,
“The only thing I can tell you is that investigation has been concluded and the suspect will be charged in court tomorrow (Monday) or next tomorrow (Tuesday).”
Sources at the command headquarters in Jos on Sunday quoted the suspect as saying during interrogation, “I was grazing when the farmer stopped me and asked me to go back as the area where I was grazing is a rice farm.
“When I got back, he complained that his farm was destroyed by the cattle. I then pushed the cattle and before you know it, we started quarreling. While we were quarreling, I didn’t know how I cut off his hand. I did it out of my wish.”