TRAGIC: FULANI HEADSMEN ALLEGEDLY AMBUSHED TRAVELLERS AND STUDENTS - 8 CONFIRMED DEAD

Very Tragic indeed as people and students traveling along Lagos-Benin expressway were Tuesday allegedly killed by suspected Fulani Herdsmen.

Dead Victims

Several people were reportedly shot dead yesterday while two persons were kidnapped when gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked passengers on Ore-Benin Road in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Several others were critically injured.

The incident, according to survivors, occurred about 4p.m. when buses either coming from Benin and heading to Lagos or coming from Lagos and heading to Benin or Akure were attacked.According to a female student, who survived the attack, the armed men shot sporadically at the buses and forced the passengers to flee, leaving their buses and belongings on the road.

The terrified lady told our correspondent that the incident caused gridlock for hours on the Ore-Benin-Lagos Expressway.

The female student, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said she was returning from school when they ran into the herdsmen on the road.

She said: “I’m schooling at Igbinedion University, Okada. I had planned to return to Lagos on Sunday but when my friend told me her parents were coming to pick her, I decided to go with them and save my money.

“We set out early. We got to Ore about 2:30p.m. But immediately we got to a village after Ore 30 minutes later, we saw three commercial buses parked on the highway in between the buses were two cars. We all thought it was traffic.”

The student added that the traffic had built up. But before she knew what was happening, some people who dressed in Fulani regalia came out of the buses and started aiming at the tyres of vehicles in the traffic.

She said: “Before we knew what was happening, they started shooting those who tried to escape into the bush and a lot of people were killed in the process.

“They operated unchallenged, there was serious commotion on the expressway; even the villagers also run for their lives. It was a driver of a sport utility vehicle who came from behind and chased the herdsmen away from the road.”

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, said the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) and the policemen attached to Ore Division had moved in and dislodged the gunmen.               
The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Chidi Chibuzor and the state Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, did not pick their calls.

But the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr. Ayodele Olatunji, said there was nothing like robbery along the road.

He said the command had deployed its Anti-Robbery squad and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) to checkmate activities of suspected hoodlums on the Ore-Benin Road.

“It has been confirmed that killings happened today along Benin-Lagos road by Fulani herdsmen, please disseminate this message to people that might be in danger or at risk. Students returning to Lagos were killed mercilessly by these lunatics today,”

@LrdQuan wrote in his tweet alongside the picture below:

May the soul of those travellers and Students who were killed Rest in Peace !!

Source: The NewTelegraph

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