On Thursday, herders and farmers battled in Gwada community, Shiroro local government area, Niger State, killing three people.
Two Fulani herders and a farmer believed to be from the majority tribe in the area were among the victims.
According to a source close to Gwada community, trouble was said to have started when the farmer, Salihu Adamu confronted the Fulani herder, Usman Sarki who invaded his farms with his cattle and caused a major damage to the crops.
The Fulani herder was said to have picked offence from the confrontation and when the farmer returned to his farm to continue his farming activity, the Fulani herder followed him and matcheted from behind, and was left in the pool of his blood
He later gave up shortly after as a result of excessive bleeding from the matchet cut and this however angered the people who trailed the Fulani herder to his settlement and lunched him and one other to death.
In what our source said was a reprisal attack, the fulanis mobilized and invaded a nearby village called Kwali and set all the houses there on fire, including food barms belonging to the people.
The situation led to a heavy Pandemonium in the town as every herder became a target of the angry residents.
Security agents were however deployed to the Gwada town and the situation was temporary brought under control as at the time of filing this report. The state Police Command, in a statement by the Public Relation officer SP Wasiu Abiodun in Minna confirmed the incident, saying the command received information from it Gwada Division that there was fracas between a herder and a farmer.
According to him “some persons were in the farm at Kwali village via Gwada, while one Usman Sarki reared his cattle into the farm and in the process of chasing the cattle out of the farm, the said Sarki inflicted a deep machete cut on the head of Salihu Adamu in the farm and he died on the spot,
“As a result of this, some persons from the village mobilized and burnt the nearby Fulani camp and vice versa”, stressing that, the police patrol team of Gwada Division led by the DPO with vigilante members have moved to the scene and normalcy was restored.
He however stated that effort is ongoing to arrest fleeing suspects responsible for culpable homicide and mischief by fire in the area.