‘They were terrorists”, Birnin-Gwari residents reply El-Rufai over lynching of ‘herders’

The record obtained by the emirate, shows that the lynched ‘herders’ were terrorist mercenaries from the Republic of Sudan. “The lynched persons are not herdsmen as falsely narrated earlier but international criminal that have been terrorising Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area (ID cards attached),” said the union.

Samuel Aruwan, the state's commissioner for internal security and home affairs, said in a statement that according to security authorities, the crowd took the two herders from security officers after hearing unfounded rumors that they were involved in banditry.

Even though the herders were not determined to be involved in the charges, the crowd set them on fire.

However, the Birnin-Gwari Emirate countered yesterday, claiming that its investigation had shown that the lynching had taken place after the suspects had stolen a motorcycle from a farmer outside of Birnin-main Gwari's town.

"Clearly, while the lynching of suspected bandits is highly condemnable, the Union observes with deep concern the way the issue has been reported to selectively and deliberately portray Birnin Gwari in the bad taste, and targeted to prove a false narrative on the issue to endanger the helpless innocent citizens of Birnin-Gwari Local Government," the union stated in a statement signed by BEPU Chairman Ishaq Usman Kasai.

“While we respect governments' commitment to looking into and prosecuting those responsible for this barbaric act, we also note that officials appear to have rushed through the release of the sensitive statement without carefully checking the identities of the "alleged herders" who were killed by a mob.

“The lynched "herders" were terrorist mercenaries from the Republic of Sudan, according to information that the BEPU has access to. Since international crime syndicates have been terrorizing Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area (ID cards attached), the allegedly lynched individuals are not herdsmen as had been wrongly stated earlier”.