FULANI GUNMEN RAZED ANOTHER EGGON SETTLEMENT IN NASARAWA

Another settlement, Tudun Adabu in Obi Local Government Area was attacked today in the spreading violence between Fulani nomads and Eggon peasants in Nasarawa State.

 

It was not clear if the attack on Tudun Adabu, a few kilometers on the outskirt of Lafia along Obi Road recorded human casualties, but the police and displaced persons who fled into Lafia confirmed that the entire settlement was burnt down when gun-wielding militia stormed in between morning and afternoon.

 

Information on the latest attack which came on the fourth day of the spreading hostility between the two ethnic groups were still sketchy at press time, but Daily Trust learnt that the attackers had a good time carrying out destruction as they killed people.

 

Fleeing persons displaced from the area said they were taken by storm, and had to grab their children to take off. Many of them trekked distances to reach safe destinations including Lafia, the state capital.

 

“I could not take anything along with me. I just picked my children and left Tudun Adabu,” a young mother of two told Daily Trust in Lafia. She said she could not reach for her mobile phone, and has not been able to know of the whereabouts of her husband who stepped out of the house before the attackers stormed in on the settlement.

 

Leader of Eggon Cultural and Development Association (ECDA), Chris Mamman told Daily Trust that he had information that the settlement was attacked and villagers killed, with many displaced.

 

Our people are still running from the area after the attack. But I can’t tell you the level of human casualty, as we are still monitoring the situation on ground,” Mamman said.

 

This is just as the state secretary of Miyetti Allah, a socio-cultural group of the Fulani people, told Daily Trust on phone that he had no good information on ground for him to make informed comments.

 

Meanwhile, Daily Trust inquiries showed that the federal highway on which Tudun Adabu is situated was completely avoided by motorists, much of whom were said to have either aborted journeys, or took longer routes to link their destinations.

 

State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Umaru Ismaila confirmed that the settlement was hit yesterday, but insisted that it was too early for the police to confirm any deaths. He said the command responded smartly with a deployment of truckloads of armed policemen who he said, have stopped the attack.

 

This is the second time in less than a year Tudun Adabu will be troubled. In 2013, the settlement was displaced in the violent hostility that raged between Eggon and Alago in much of Lafia-East and Obi areas of the state. The settlement was not hit, but villagers there were displaced as they fled for fear of attack