The conflict between Fulani herdsmen and residents of Okuke, a satellite village at Amorji in Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, have left three persons dead and two others badly injured.
According to DAILY POST the people of the community had over the last three years, accused the herdsmen of destroying their farmlands and terrorizing them.
An indigene of the community, who didn’t want his identity disclosed, said the Amorji community had constituted a 15-man delegation to meet with the herdsmen for a peace talk, as they, the herdsmen, had earlier threatened to chase the residents out of Okuke, their abode.
He said the delegation was on the way for the peace talk when they were ambushed by herdsmen, who he alleged, opened fire at them, killing three and inflicting gunshot injuries on two others.
“One person is still missing while those injured are receiving treatment at a hospital in Kwale, headquarters of the Ndokwa West Local Government Area. The bodies of the deceased had been deposited in the mortuary,” he noted.
He grieved over the fact that indigenes of the community could no longer go to their farms or markets in neighbouring communities for fear of being waylaid and attacked by the armed herdsmen.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Celestina Kalu, confirmed the killings and said the incident was a suspected retaliation attack, as a Fulani herdsman had earlier been reported killed in the community in the last one week.
Celestina said, “After some days, some of the villagers went to the police to complain that three of their indigenes were missing.
“To this effect, a search party was raised and the bodies of three persons were found.
“Efforts to bring the disputing parties together are in progress as the command is trying to curtail the situation,” she added.
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