Aftermath Of Enugu Peace Meeting With Fulani Herdsmen, Varsity Lecturer Nnamdi Ogueche Killed
The Oasis Reporters
March 22, 2019
A senior lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Dr Nnamdi Ogueche has been shot dead while returning from a peace meeting between his kinsmen and Fulani herdsmen in Enugu.
The peace meeting, said to have been summoned by Enugu State Governor’s Special Adviser on Security Matters, Brig. Gen. Fred Eze (rtd), was to find solutions to the raging disagreement between Adaba and Lokpa communities in Uzouwani local government area and the herdsmen. Farm crops belonging to the communities were incessantly attacked by the herders.
The university lecturer was killed alongside the administrative secretary of Uzo-Uwani local government area of Enugu State. Dr. Ogueche’s death came less than 24 hours after a Catholic priest, Rev Fr. Clement Ugwu, who was earlier kidnapped and killed, was buried.
The gunmen who shot at the duo on Wednesday night along Iwolo road in Ezeagu local government area are suspected to be herdsmen, although the Commissioner of Police, Sulieman Balarabe, who briefed reporters yesterday at the police headquarters and confirmed the latest killing, declined to confirm the involvement of herdsmen until after investigations.
He however assured that the command would do its best to bring the perpetrators to justice. He said there was an ambush against the deceased, confirming that three persons have been arrested in connection with the murder.
The assailants were said to have pursued the council scribe and shot him alongside three other occupants of the vehicle he was driving. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of other occupants of the vehicle Ogueche was driving could not be established as at the time of this report.
When contacted, chairman of Uzo-Uwani local government area, Mr. Fidelis Ani, confirmed the killing, adding that the immediate cause has not been ascertained. He said a case had been lodged at Ezeagu police division for investigations, just as fear and heightened tension engulfed the council area yesterday.
There has been rising spate of killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen militia who often carry automatic weapons to ostensibly defend their livestock, but in probable fits of anger, often use the weapons to attack defenseless Nigerians especially in the Middle belt and other parts of the country with impunity.
Most Fulani herdsmen insist on nomadic herder style of cattle rearing that has existed since ancient times, even though modern methods of cattle rearing that are more profitable, eliminating clashes with sedentary farmers have been gaining widespread acceptance world wide, except in most parts of Nigeria.
The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in the recently concluded general elections in the country had suggested the introduction of feeding lots through education and sensitization of his Fulani kinsmen as a way out of the incessant clashes.
Additional reporting: The Guardian
