Residents of Imama Ugbawka in Nkanu East and Umuhu Eha-Amufu in Enugu State’s Isi-Uzo Local Government Area have been mourning the deaths of three people in separate attacks by suspected herdsmen.
Several more were injured in the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to City Round.
While the attack in Ugbawka took place on Tuesday, when herders allegedly attacked a field and killed two farm laborers hired from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, to produce crops on the property, the event in Eha-Amufu took place on Wednesday at Agba-Esher.
Odo Francis, a community leader in Umuhu, Eha-Amufu, reported that seven herders wielding AK-47s had blocked the Nkalagu-Eha-Amufu Road.
“Unfortunately, an Okada rider from Amade Eha-Amufu who was carrying two persons got to the point. They killed him and abducted the two men. Our people were alerted when a man from Umuhu Eha-Amufu identified as Okibe Odo, who escaped death by a whisker broke the news.
“Now, our forest guards and neighbourhood watch (members) are on their trail. The body of the victim, Ifeanyi Odoebe, has been deposited in the morgue.”
Chima Nwodo, a community leader from Imama Ugbawka, who confirmed the incident in his town, claimed one of the laborers who escaped the herders when they attacked the farm warned the people.
The President-General of Imama Ugbawka Autonomous Community, Chief Osita Ogbu, described the attack on his community as callous and unprovoked.
“These herdsmen, according to one of the labourers that survived, were six in number. When he (the survivor) alerted our people, we sent our vigilantes to the farm who discovered the bodies of the victims and, subsequently, informed the police, Department of State Services, and the military. They came and saw the mutilated bodies. The victims’ throats were slit.
The state’s police spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, declined to comment.
However, Chief Steve Oruruo, the Special Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Information, who also heads the Ministry of Information, confirmed the incident and urged security authorities to apprehend the perpetrators.
