Alfa Bello, a 60-year-old Fulani herder, has narrated how he
lost nine children in the recent airstrike that occurred in Nasarawa state.
Several pastoralists were killed in an explosion resulting
from an airstrike that occurred on January 25.
In an interview with DailyTrust, families of victims
lamented the effects of the incident on their lives.
Speaking on the impact of the explosion, Bello said he was
at home when one of his sons came to inform him about his cattle seized by the
Benue livestock guards, adding that he paid N6 million to retrieve the animals.
“Benue state
livestock guards arrested my cows and took them to Lanta area of the state. I
went there and retrieved my cows, and while offloading them at Kwatan Angulu in
Rukubi in Doma LGA, all of a sudden, an airstrike came from nowhere and killed
my nine children, including my cows,” he said.
“Also, among those who were killed were 15 drivers who
conveyed the cows from Benue.
“The death of my children has demoralised me. All my
strength has finished. All my hope has been shattered. Those that killed my
nine children have finished me.
“The bomb has
destroyed all I had laboured for. Where do I start from? I have lost everything
that I had laboured for in just one day. Since the sad incident happened, I
have not been eating. In fact, I was put on drip.”
He called on the state and federal governments to intervene
in the situation and assist him in paying the medical bills of those who
sustained injuries.
Meanwhile, Bello Bodejo, national president of Miyetti Allah
Kautal Hore, had raised concern over the effect of the anti-open grazing law on
the herders in the area.
“The Fulani people have been pushed to the wall by incessant
attacks, particularly in Benue state, as a result of anti-open grazing law, and
I want to say it here today that an injury to one Fulani is an injury to the
entire Fulani community in Africa,” he said.
“We have so far lost
40 Fulani to the attack, and as I speak to you now, 15 others are receiving
treatment in various hospitals in Nasarawa state.
“Nine persons were killed in a single family during the
attack. We are peace-loving people and we do not want any confrontation.
“The anti-grazing law that was established by governor
Samuel Ortom is the reason for all the challenges that we are facing. The law should
be scrapped because it was made by humans and not God. It is only when it is
scrapped that all these challenges will come to an end.”
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