A man has escaped death by the whiskers after armed Fulani herdsmen hacked his friend to death.
The victim
One man has been hacked to death while another escaped after being attacked by six armed Fulani herdsmen in Plateau.
It was gathered that the incident happened at about 7.43pm on Tuesday night, January 26, at Nod area while the youths were returning from Hoss to Jol community.
One of the young men identified as Amos Elisha, 20, was hacked to death while Daniel Sati sustained grievous injuries.
Spokesperson of the Plateau State Police Command, Gabriel Ogaba, who confirmed the attack, said the injured victim is currently recuperating in the hospital, and that investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack.
He said the command is soliciting for useful information from well-meaning members of the community to aid their investigation.
Barrister Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri of the Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria-ECCVN visited Vom Christian Hospital where the injured person and the corpse of Amos were taken by personnel of Divisional Police Headquarters of Riyom.
Daniel, who is nursing deep machete and dagger cuts in his head and hands, managed to narrate how they were ambushed by six Fulanis armed with daggers and swords few miles after a military checkpoint.
"I am Daniel Sati, 24 years and married with one child, I hail from Tanjol hamlet of Jol community. It was about 7:43pm of 26th January, 2021 that a group of 6 Fulanis armed with machetes, daggers and dazzling swords laid us ambush on our way back from Hoss’ Market to Jol Community,"
Daniel recalls sighting the killers before approaching the spot, but was persuaded by his friend who was brimming with courage and faith, to keep moving.
"We were walking from Makera (village) where we went to buy water pump machine parts. I saw signs of human movements in the grasses and suggested that we should turn back but Amos said we should have faith, that even if we would be killed, we should still trust Jesus to provide us a refuge in heaven," he said.
''On getting to where they laid the ambush, three Fulani men abruptly emerged from both sides of the roads and started chasing us after a long trek from Makera.
According to him, another group of 3, making 6 also emerged from the other side of the road and pounced on them with their daggers, cutlasses, knives among others.
''As we tried to fight back, we were overpowered as the hacking became tensely unbearable with high potency of engulfing life. Daniel added.''
“we picked stones and anything available to defend ourselves with. Amos was also bleeding but I don’t know which part of his body was he struck,” he said.
Daniel ran, fighting and praying in his heart, with blood dripping from different sides of his head and hands. He fell down at a point, clearly weak as a result of blood lost from the injuries and continued bleeding, and was to be stabbed again on the ground, but swiftly sprang up, hitting the sword off on the attacker’s hand.
His friend had ran into nearby bushes and was chased by five of the attackers. Daniel’s aggressor drew out a smaller knife to inflict more injuries on him, but he never gave up. He struggled until he knocked him down with only a stone in his hand. He was however accosted by the other assailants, before he could rise up and run.
"They hit me several times with their daggers and machetes but with the help of God, I still ran until i escaped to Tashek (nearby village) from where I was taken to Riyom Police Divisional Headquarters, and later on to the hospital for medical attention.”
On getting to Tashek hamlet, Daniel reported his encounter to local vigilante called “Neighborhood Watch” who swung into action to rescue Amos, not knowning that his friend has already been hacked dead by the said killer Fulani militias.
As to the identity of the attackers, Daniel narrated that, “I facially know one of the attackers who is a Fulani from Dakar (Guava) area close to Rankum (Mahanga) of Jol Community. He is among those that came and pitched their mobile tents around our settlements.”
In the process of search, Amos was found dead in a pool of blood with stained machete and handset at the scene, believed to belong to the killers when vigilante arrived the spot.
Adding voice to the unattended plights of the affected village/hamlet, a Pastor in the area, Yusuf Tanko, said herdsmen in the area have issued several threats openly even during meetings with securities but no arrest is made.
"In our meetings in farmer-herder reconciliation committees, the herders always complain that the natives are always preventing them from herding, freely to wherever they wish,” which points at the helpless state of insecurity rising up in the area, he said.
According to the Barrister, "Tashek Village in particular, has had its ugly experience from killer Fulani armed attacks in the recent past, and its remains a theatre of violent attacks, unprecedented mischievous grazing and other related heinous activities continuously being perpetrated as gathered. For instance, Mr Zakka Sunday and Mr. Elisha Yakubu, the father to Amos Elisha were killed in the same location ten years ago."