Angry Edo Youths Protest Alleged Killing of Indigene by Herdsmen

Angered by the alleged killing of an indigene by suspected Fulani herdsmen at the popular Okada junction along the Benin-Lagos expressway in Edo State, some youths in the area on Tuesday were said to have gone to the camps of the cattlemen and sacked them.

From media findings, circumstances surrounding the killing were sketchy as it was learnt that the youths allegedly marched through the town of Ofumwengbe in Ovia North East Local Government Area of the state demanding that the herdsmen should leave the town.

Consequently, the road was barricaded by the protesters who carried fresh leaves as a mark of solidarity, causing a long traffic jam on the busy expressway which connects the country's commercial capital of Lagos to the eastern and Niger Delta regions.

The state Commissioner of Police, DanMallam Mohammed, could not be reached on his mobile phone as it was switched off at the time of inquiry, while the state police spokesman, Chidi Nwanbuzor, refused to answer his phone call. But a source disclosed that the youths were said to have ransacked the herdsmen camps in the bush.

The source stressed that the herdsmen ran away on seeing the mob which chanted solidarity songs, insisting that the cattlemen should vacate the community which has lately been notorious for kidnapping by hoodlums.

Last month, a lecturer, Azebiokhai of the Igbinedion University, Okada, was reportedly gunned down by suspected Fulani herdsmen during a kidnap operation.

Also recently, a driver conveying medical equipment in an ambulance donated by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Akure, Ondo State, was reportedly killed in a failed kidnap operation.