Assailants Inflict Machete Wounds on Vice Chairman of Arewa Community in Edo

A cattle dealer and Vice Chairman of the Arewa Community in Igarra, AkokoEdo Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Hassan Usman, is reportedly lying critically ill following machete wounds he received from unknown assailants in the area.

This is coming barely one week after another suspected herdsmen chopped off the wrist of a farmer in Ojah, another community in the area which led to the arrest of two suspects.

The latest attack, THISDAY gathered, occurred when some assailants suspected to be herdsmen last Monday were said to have lured the vice chairman into the bush in the guise of selling cattle to him and in the process attacked him with machete.

Usman is a cattle retailer who goes into the bush to buy cattle directly from the rearers and retail to customers.

Confirming the incident to journalists in Benin City yesterday, the Chairman of Arewa community in the locality, Muammhed Umar Dankuruku, said the cuts affected the brain of Hassan and would undergo surgery even as he said the victim has remained unconscious.

After the attack, Dankuruku said the assailants used the victim’s phone to call his contacts, demanding ransom, saying Hassan was in their custody.

According to him, “Hassan Usman used to buy cows from the Fulani people. He was in the market on Igarra market day and two of them came to call him that they had cows to sell to him in the bush.

“On getting to the bush, they told him to bring money and he said he doesn’t have money, they pounced on him and cut him severally with machete in more than five places.

“They collected his phone and called us that they have kidnapped Hassan. They called Audu his younger brother, he asked them where they were, they told him they were not ready yet to tell him where they were.

“After about two to three hours, another Fulani man was coming from inside the bush, he saw the lifeless body of Hassan with cuts, he came to town to tell us and we rushed him to the hospital in Igarra but we have moved him to Auchi and the doctor has said the cuts have affected his brain and will have to be operated on this evening.

“After that, these people have been using Hassan’s phone to call us to say we should come and pay them N30 million that if we don’t give them N30 million, they will kill him, they never knew that we had taken Hassan to the hospital.

“For three days now, Hassan has not talked, he has not eaten, he has not opened his eyes.”

He also said they have reported the case to the police.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the incident, saying the police was already investigating the matter.