Rampaging Fulani herdsmen yesterday invaded an agrarian community, Ukpabi Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government, Enugu State.
Forty eight members of the community were killed.
Over 60 houses and shops were set ablaze by the invading herdsmen. About 56 injured residents are receiving treatment at hospitals in Nsukka.
The attack came two days after a security report hinted of an impending attack by Fulani herdsmen in the area.
The report had said the community would be invaded by about 500 Fulani herdsmen from Nasarawa State.
A team of soldiers and mobile police drafted to the area after the report of the invasion filtered into the state was overpowered by the herdsmen.
The invaders, who came into Ukpabi-Nimbo in the wee hours of yesterday, were said to have used grenades, AK 47 and other dangerous weapons.
According to the residents, the herdsmen “were indiscriminately shooting and cutting our kinsmen with machetes”.
As at yesterday evening, some residents said those killed have exceeded the initial 48 brought to the Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, by policemen.
Transitional Committee Chairman of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Cornell Onwubuya said despite efforts to stop the attack, the herdsmen still went ahead to unleash mayhem on the community.
Enugu Police, in a statement, said it had commenced “a full scale investigation into the alleged killing of six persons at Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government by suspected herdsmen”.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Tuesday, April 26, 2016, wept uncontrollably on seeing the quantum of his people murdered and the property destroyed by the dreaded Fulani Herdsmen.
The governor who visited Ukpabi, Nimbo, in Uzo-Uwani local government area of the state could not control himself and was pictured using his hand to cover his face in tears.
He was in the company of Enugu State’s commissioner of police, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu, the GOC 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, as well as the Enugu State commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.
The governor, thereafter, declared two days fasting and prayer in the State, asking residents to commit the situation into God’s hand.
The visit, according to Daily Post, coincided with the recovery of one more dead residents, who were slaughtered by the herdsmen.
This is as many survivors, with varying degrees of injuries on the head, neck, and other parts of the body are currently receiving treatment in different hospitals in Nsukka.
Some of the victims are being moved to the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, Enugu
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