The families of four Fulani herdsmen who were murdered at Kukuri village, a settlement of Panda Development Area, in Karu Local Government ofNasarawa State, have petitioned the police, calling for an investigation into their murder.The victims were reportedly murdered by a suspected Fulani vigilance group in August 2016, when an outrageous number of people stormed Kukuri village and stole over 300 cows and 100 sheep of the victims.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the four victims were first abducted before their corpses were found showing that they were hacked to death.
The victims are Alhaji Sani, Sani Birki, Usman Yellow and Dahiru Sani.
The father of one of the victims, Alhaji Suleiman Rabiu, said he got information about the brutal murder of his son with the shock that he and the others were accused to be kidnapers and cow rustlers.
The 70-year-old man said the case was reported at the PandaPolice Division, which later rescued about 26 of the cows from one Alhaji.He alleged that some of the leaders of Miyette Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and the sister organisation Miyette Allah Katol Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural group, waded into the case and sought the release of those arrested in connection with the case.
He said he had received threats as a result of his involvement in the case from some individuals.He further disclosed that the police demanded some payment from thebereaved families to aid their investigation. Chairman of the Nasarawa State chapter of Miyette Allah, Alhaji Hussaini Mohammad, he denied the association’s involvement in the killing.
According to him, the group was parading themselves as
an authorised Fulani vigilance group, but that they did not operate under the umbrella of the Miyette Allah Cattle Breeders.