Photos-- Fulani herdsman slaughters 2 teenagers in Benue

 

                       A 20-year-old Fulani herdsman Adamu Ibrahim has been arrested after he slaughtered 2 teenagers at the at Zongo village, in Mabala Council Ward, Makurdi. The girls aged 15 and 18 have gone to fetch firewood with their 14-year-old sister Jirgba Nyeshilea when they were attacked by the suspect, raped and then killed. The only survivor, Jirgba Nyeshilea who is currently receiving treatment at a public hospital in Makurdi says they were on their way to fetch firewood when the suspect accosted them and asked them if they saw any man pass by:

 “We told him that we did not see anybody, he then asked us to follow him. We were forced to follow him out of fear, we trekked with him to a point where we saw another two of his colleagues. That was where they all asked us to lie down. But we were scared. They eventually forced my two sisters down and two of the men raped them, but they did not rape me. After raping them, they started cutting them with their knives until they killed them. At that point, I started running and shouting for help, but one of them came after me and cut me with a knife and I fell down.

I passed out for sometime and in my pool of blood, they thought I was dead, but luckily, when they left, I gathered myself and managed to escape back to the village. That was how I found myself at the hospital,” she said.

The suspect said he killed the girls while under the influence of a drug, Tramol 200:

 “I was in the bush grazing my cow when a Tiv man approached me claiming that I damaged his farm. I told him I was not the one and he insisted I was the one. In the midst of the argument and confusion, my herds scattered in the bush. I started chasing after them in order to gather them. On my way, I met three girls whom I asked if they knew the man that was accusing me of destroying his farm and they said yes.

They, however, refused to disclose the man’s residence, claiming that they did not know his house. The eldest amongst the girls started insulting me and she came and held my cutlass. I told her to get off my cutlass. She continued pulling the cutlass. The second one came and started taunting me and pulling my dagger and in the process, the knife cut her hand.

I withdrew from them and asked if they can face me and they said yes. That was why I pulled out my knife and cut the eldest. The other one that had a cut on her hand ran and moved away and was watching from a distance, but I also caught up with her and cut her down. I also did the same thing to the third.”

 No other Fulani herdsman was there, I did it alone. I swear that I did not rape them. They pushed me into what I did because I was pleading and asking that they left me alone. I feel very sorry for what I did, because it is a crime. I was actually under the influence of Tramol 200. I normally buy the tablet from one Tiv man in the village. I take it to feel high and for energy because whenever I take it, I hardly get tired of moving about with my cow. We reside here in Benue near Agatu, that is where some of us move our cow for grazing,” he said.

Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hyacinth Dagala, expressed deep shock over the killing...

“I feel bad about this because it is absurd and unfounded for women who are ordinarily non-violent to be killed in such violent manner. I was personally shocked when I heard about the incident and got particularly worried when I discovered the manner these young girls were killed, he said”