Fulani Herder Apprehended Close to University in Benue
According to reports Benue State Livestock Guards have apprehended a suspected Fulani herdsman identified as Amandu Wakili who has admitted working for one Alhaji Aliyu Tershaku alongside several others suspected to be responsible for the recent attacks on some communities in Benue state.
Mallam Wakili disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi, the state capital.
The suspect claimed that Tershaku urged herdsmen including him to return to the state and continue with grazing of cattle in defiance of the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.
The suspect herddsman was apprehended in a community close to the University of Agriculture Makurdi for publicly grazing his cattle. He disclosed that they were urged to return to Benue but be on alert to resist cattle rustling while also avoiding destruction of crop farms.
Speaking in Hausa, Wakili disclosed that some of his colleagues ran away with their cattle when he was apprehended and taken to Makurdi by operatives of the Livestock Guards.
He stated that they came to the state from Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, stressing that more of their members were billed to relocate to Benue on the instructions of their leaders.
State Commandant of Livestock Guards, Mr. Linus Zaki while addressing newsmen on the matter, said they received intelligence reports that herders were grazing openly around University of Agriculture Makurdi communities and swiftly sent his patrol men who arrested Mallam Wakili for contravening the state’s Ranching Law.
He said the herder was arrested with a cutlass with which he used to resist arrest but was later overpowered by men of the Livestock Guards and taken away to the state office of the agency.
