News Obiaks News

Men suspected to be cattle rustlers in the Ise-Akoko area of Ondo State had hacked down Babangida Oni, a 30 year old native of the town. Ise-Akoko is one of the communities in Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State. As at press time, newsmen were only able to obtain a sketchy report on the incidence. Accusing fingers had been pointing to Fulani herdsmen by members of the community for being behind the incident.  However, nothing concrete had been established since the incidence occurred. Police authorities said they are already investigating the matter to establish the actual cause of the violence and who could have been responsible for the death of Babangida Oni. Despite the doubt expressed by the police, members of the community insisted that the Fulani herdsmen were responsible.

The Fulani herdsmen were said to have visited Oni in his house in the evening where he was machete to death. Eye witness claimed that they heard heated verbal exchange coming from the house between Oni and the Fulani herdsmen. Oni was said to have been attacked and hacked to death by the herdsmen afterwards. The herdsmen were said to have left, leaving Oni’s lifeless body in their wake. The police had taken his remains to the State Specialist Hospital in Ikare-Akoko and his corpse was deposited at the hospital’s mortuary. A post mortem is expected to be conducted on the corpse, according to reports given by hospital authorities.   

The police, giving their report on the incidence, said that a man named Yinusa Oni came to the police station at about 10 am to report the incident. Mr. Yinusa Oni is a resident of Akunnu-Akoko. Yinusa had told the police that he was called around 7 pm by Idris Oni, his nephew, who was a brother to the murdered babangida Oni and was told of what happened. Idris told Yinusa how three men came into their home in Ise-Akoko and killed his brother Babangida Oni.

The police told pressmen through its state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Wole Ogodo, that they have not made any arrest as regards the incidence. He however confirmed that they have been made aware of the incidence. He insisted however that the police are already carrying out investigation into the crime. It would be recalled that Fulani herdsmen had been involved in similar crimes across the nation. They have been accused severally of raiding homes and killing harmless individuals in various parts of Adamawa state. They had been accused also of sacking whole towns in many regions. They were also accused of similar offences in parts of Ogun State Nigeria, where they sacked a community after the residents protested the destruction of their crops by cattle owned by the Fulani herdsmen.

Aside this, Fulani herdsmen had been accused of stealing in various parts of Nigeria. They once robbed another Fulani herdsman of his herds of cattle in one of the villages around Ogbomosho in Oyo State. The crime perpetrated by suspected Fulani herdsmen is on the rise by the week.

By Anthony Olawale Ojo