A group of Herders in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State has vowed to do everything possible to eliminate the only surviving daughter of a family of three after killing the father and mother.
The entire town was thrown into mourning when Mr Sylvester Ilechukwu and Mrs Angelina Ilechukwu, a father and a mother of a family of three were gruesomely murdered in a cold blood while the only surviving daughter Christine Amuche Ilechukwu managed to escape the terrible carnage as the assailants sniffed lives out of her parents.
An interrogation into the root cause of the issue from Mr Chinedu Ugwoke, a friend to Mr Sylvester Ilechukwu as well as some members of the community revealed that the incident occurred as a result of a clash between Mr Sylvester and some herders. The Herders who pitched their tents in the outskirts of the town were said to have led their cows into the farm of the diseased and plundered his entire farm by eating his cassava, yam and maize plants, this was met with a serious confrontation and exchange of words. Members of the community intervened and the matter was resolved amicably. Chinedu further stated that that the Herders repeated the same event by herding some cattles into the farm of his friend few days later and came back in the evening of the same day with a claim that some cows died after eating his friend’s crops and that Mr. Sylvester had poisoned his plants. The deceased denied poisoning his crops, stating that it was not only his crops that were encroached in the early hours of the day. It was revealed that on the 3rd of June, 2021 the house of Mr Sylvester Ilechukwu was attacked by a group of people identified as same Fulani Herders killing Him and his wife while the only surviving daughter Christine Amuche Ilechukwu, a graduate of sociology from University of Ilorin, managed to escape by jumping over the fence, and escaped to her grandmother’s house, where she was traced to; it took the intervention of some Youths to save her life while her grandmother was shot dead by these irate Fulani headers who promised to ensure that the entire family was killed.
Christine who only came to visit her parents with the intention of pursuing her masters degree, could not bear the loss of her parents in one day, became traumatized and was hospitalized for three weeks and later horridly discharged amidst fear of being attacked by the same group.
When the police were contacted to assist in salvaging the situation in order to save her life, the police advised her to stay out of sight of these Fulani headers as much as possible stating that there is nothing they could do to save her life. As it stands the life of Christine Amuche Ilechukwu is in serious danger and her safety is no longer guaranteed, as the enraged Herders are on a lookout to eliminate her life having successfully eliminated her entire household. We therefore call on the Federal government to look into the excesses of these Fulani Herders and Bandits within the country.