A 65 -year- old -man, Mazi Ozoemena Iriaka, has been killed by herdsmen yesterday, in Umuekpu-Agwa, Oguta Local Government Area (LGA), Imo State.
This happened barely 48 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated his administration’s victory over incessant killing in the country and the need to regularize the activities of the herdsmen in the country.
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The villagers who converged at the scene of the incident said the killing has continued for some time as the bandits threatened to attack the community and their farmland again considering that their (community) livelihood is dependent on farming.
The community maintained that this was aside constant threat to life encountered by indigenes who farm in their land on a daily basis since 2015.
Narrating the unfortunate incident, Mr. Austin Onyeoma (a resident) said after destruction of their crops by herder’s cattle, the community has been dragged into an economic quagmire, subjecting them to excruciating pains during this pandemic.
He said, having heard the herdermen were on their farmland in the early hour of the yesterday, they matched to the location to know the rationale for their invasion only for the bandits to attack them with AK-47.
“When we got to our farm land where their Cattle were devouring our crops which we invested so much, we engaged them on conversation only for them to start shooting at us with their AK-47.
“In the process, they shot Mazi Iriaka and slit his back neck after we ran for dear life. I have never seen this in my entire life where people can no longer farm on their land to survive because of threats from herdsmen considering the lockdown.”
According to the villagers who converged at the scene of the incident said the killing has continued for some time as the bandits threaten to attack the community and their farmland again considering that their (community) livelihood is dependent on farming.
The community maintained that this was aside constant threat to life encountered by indigenes who farm in their land on a daily basis since 2015.
Findings revealed that Police officers of at Mgbala Police Division, Oguta, and some personnel of the Nigerian Army arrived the scene after the killers had fled and carried the body of the butchered farmer.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
