How We Chased 16 Herdsmen With 16 Ak-47 From Abraka –Vigilante

…They Did A Video Just To Create Panic In The Hearts Of People, No Herdsmen Were Seen In It —Police

By Daniel Dafe

Hoodlums on Thursday were chased out of Umege Community, Abraka in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.

A vigilante member who spoke to Oasis Magazine under conditions of anonymity claimed that the said hoodlums were 16 herdsmen and that each of them had an AK-47.

According to him, they received a distress call from people staying close to the railway bridge that Fulani herdsmen were close to the railway, saying that when they got there, it was like a war front.

He said: “The advantage we had was that this is our community and we know where and how we can attack them from. They started running into the bush and we were in a gunfire battle with them. When our bullets got exhausted, we had no other option but to return back.

“The caller told us that the Fulani herdsmen asked them to leave the railway and they are much. We called the police but due to the kidnapping in Eku roads, some patrol vehicles went there and before they got to the scene of the incidence we were already there.

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“We have been hearing that the herdsmen and bandits are all over the country in different places and they will attack every community. So, I think they are doing same here to show that they are ready for this community too. The problem now is that the community is not efficiently providing for the vigilante hunters on ground because we buy our guns and bullets on our own and take risks on our own. Nobody supports us. So I think they want to carry out their activities here because it looks so difficult for someone to see almost 16 gunmen from the bush and take it as a robbery.  I won’t take it as a robbery, because 16 men went to rob; what do they want to share?”

He disclosed that apart from vigilante members that joined in the chase of the herdsmen, they were supported by anti-cult members and hunters.

The vigilante member also claimed that after leaving the Umege section of the railway, the herdsmen relocated to Ajanomi river side and started harassing people, adding that they did not hurt anyone.

“We still went there that night because people called us that they were extorting and harassing people. But this time around, we started using our torches and guns from a distance because it was dark. We didn’t see them but we saw their footprints and where they gathered. I believe that it was when they heard the gunshot that they moved.”

He noted that the place the herdsmen disturbed in time past was Urhuoka axis, but now relocating to other places in Abraka like Umege were they were seen and chased away from on Thursday.

In his words: “We can say that that they are relocating because there was a time we were after them vigorously in that Urhuoka area and even arrested some and took them to Asaba. One even used a dagger to cut the neck of a vigilante member and some were even shot. This happened when this new DPO came in. He was the one that took us to Asaba with our gun wounds and shirts alongside the two gunmen to see the Commissioner of Police.

“We have been hearing rumours that they stay in the bush and later come out to attack the community members that stay close to the bush. But with the number we have now, about 16 herdsmen in the jungle, I think the rumours are true and they want to attack our community as they do in other places.”

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On the viral video, he said it was made while they were attacking the herdsmen.

Oasis Magazine spoke to another vigilante member also on conditions of anonymity.

He said: “When we saw them, they had passed the railway and were heading towards Umeghe. That was how I got to know that they had already been chased from ObiarukU. They were in Obiaruko for some days and they have been chasing them out of ObiarukU. So I don’t know what brought them to that side of Abraka.

Asked how it was possible for them to chase the herdsmen with AK-47 when none of the vigilante had such sophisticated weapon, he said: “We don’t know. Probably it was God. I think it was God and the gods of the land because they cannot stay and watch other people chase us out of our land.”

Speaking further, he said: “They are the main people giving us a cause of worry in the bushy parts of this community. They are the ones kidnapping and doing all sorts of stuffs. Even in that Benin road they kidnapped a manager and he had to pay 30million naira for his release. That same area we saw them, we chased them there before and released 2 of their victims last year or last 2 years. They were kidnapped when they went to the market and were taken into the bush. When we chased them into the bush, they ran and left the victims behind and that was how we freed them.

Meanwhile, reacting to the incidence, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, said the vigilante members claimed that suspected hoodlums were seen around the train station and they went there.

Speaking to Oasis Magazine via a telephone conversation, he added: “They did not even inform the police. They went there and claimed that they were engaging them but in the video, we did not see who they were engaging.  We only saw vigilantes shooting gun and it ends there.

“Let us agree that they tried to engage them, they couldn’t kill one, they couldn’t catch one, they couldn’t recover any gun but all they did was a video just to create panic in the hearts of people. So what have they achieved? The vigilantes agreed that they saw suspected hoodlums around the train station and they went after them.”