Herdsmen kill one in A’Ibom, council chair alleges

Suspected herdsmen killed one Lucky Christopher Udoakpan in Nkek village, Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State

Ukanafun council chairman, Mr. Uko Idiong, who disclosed this on Sunday in Uyo, said the late Udoakpan was killed on Friday when he went to weed grass in his farm.

Idiong alleged that the deceased was in his farm when some herdsmen entered and insisted on feeding their cattle with his crops which led to a quarrel.

He said the herdsmen pulled out machetes in a fit of rage and inflicted cuts on the deceased which led to his death.

“The incident happened in Nkek village. Nkek village is in Ward 3 in Southern Ukanafun, Ukanafun Local Government Area.

“Youths of the village called to inform me of the incident and I quickly went there with the House of Assembly member, Charity Ido, to inspect the scene.

“But before I went there I had to call my Divisional Police Officer, Edet Offiong, who was ahead of me. The police saw the corpse and took it to the compound of one of the chiefs in the village.

"I told them to wait till I arrived and when I got there, the youths of the village were aggrieved and I had to talk to them to remain calm.

“The villagers informed me that the deceased went to his farm to weed. When he was there he saw the herdsmen with their cattle. He told them to leave his farm because the cows were destroying his crops," he said.

“I told my DPO that they should look for the herdsmen who killed the man. But the police reported back to me, saying they could not find them as not even the footprints of the herdsmen or the cows were seen," Idiong stated.

The spokesman of the police in the state, SP Odiko MacDon confirmed the incident saying, “The police are aware of the incident and investigation is ongoing”.