Fulani Herdsman kills brother over missing cow

The suspect reportedly attacked his brother with a machete while fighting over a missing cow, delivering a fatal blow to Abdullahi's neck.

The State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Bello, revealed that the incident occurred on March 9, 2018.

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Recounting the shocking incident to The Sun, the suspect said, “My brother, Abdullahi and myself took our cattle for grazing. Later, we discovered that one cattle which was not our own had joined our herd.

"We were three who made the discovery – Abdullahi, one Ibrahim and myself. Abdullahi and I agreed to sell it. Later, he asked me to go and sell it in the market. As I was taking the cattle, it escaped from me. I returned back to tell Abdullahi.

"He did not believe me. He accused of selling the cattle for N300,000. I tried to explain to him, but he insisted that I sold the cattle for N300,000. My father tried to settle the matter, without success.

"Abdullahi said that I must pay N300,000 for the cattle or he would kill me. I challenged him on why he would want to kill me over the cattle that escaped from me.

Then he began making phone calls to his friends, telling them I am a liar and that I sold the cattle for N300,000. I became very angry and we started fighting. In the course of the fight, he injured me on my right hand and I cut him with my cutlass on the neck.”

Upon the conclusion of the ongoing investigation, the suspect will be charged to court.

Fulani Herdsmen and their licence to kill

Nowadays, any mention of a Fulani herdsman is about illicit fear, terror, and fright. They have become licensed killers who go about wrecking havoc, destruction, and devastation anywhere they go.

Long gone are the sticks and machetes they used in chasing away dangerous animals coming for their cattle. They are now replaced with AK-47 guns, assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades which they use to sack whole communities, kill and rape women with reckless abandon.

They are no longer the mind-your-business-I -mind-my-business guy who goes about with his flute to entertain himself while his wife milks the cows to take to town to sell Fura da nono.

No one can say exactly when the easy going Fulani herdsman became a killer and bloodthirsty war monger but the transition has taken many by surprise.

From Plateau State to Adamawa, from Benue to Kogi, Kaduna to Bauchi, Delta to Edo, Enugu to Anambra, we wake up every day to hear how Fulani herdsmen wrecked one havoc or the other, killing indigenes with reckless abandon, as if they have a license to kill and maim members of their host communities.

The menace of the Fulani herdsmen has gone for too long without a check from security forces and the government seems unable or willing to check it and nip it in the bud.

In the last two years, they have become more daring with the attacks becoming more fierce and well-coordinated that it seems they have some backing from the security agencies.

It is now a common sight to hear how they stormed a community, attack the people, kill at random, burn down houses and sack the indigenes with none of them being apprehended despite the fact that they keep occurring at an alarming frequency.

When the menace started, many thought it had religious and ethnic coloration but these days, they do not care if the community is inhabited by Muslims or Christians.

Before now, they would attack churches and communities largely inhabited by Christians but these days, they do not care as they strike even Muslim communities as in the case witnessed last weekend when they attacked a Mosque in Niger State, killing more than 20 people.

Though security agencies and the government has come out to say most of the atrocities carried out are not necessarily done by the herdsmen as most of the attackers are foreigners who sneak into the country, the bottom line still lies in the fact that nothing is being done to put them in check.

In some instances, some of the actions of government make people wonder if they are really ready to take the fight to the so-called aliens.

The truth remains that the killing spree has continued unabated. Though one cannot completely say they are carried out by the Fulani herdsmen, the issue still remains that any of such attacks are attributed to them and nothing is being done to arrest the tide.

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The state governors are doing practically nothing to provide security for their people as the rampaging herdsmen go about their killing spree, yet they collect billions as security funds every month.

The police, the military, and the security services have shown that they cannot protect the citizens of Nigeria from the marauding herdsmen and it is left for Nigerians to rise up and defend themselves.