Nine persons, including a traditional ruler, were reported killed on Monday, when suspected herdsmen attacked Agbenema, Ajichekpa, Opada and Iyade villages, in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Several houses were also razed in the attacks which reportedly into the following day.
The Onu of Agbenema, Musa Edibo along with his wife, were burnt in his palace, while the residence if the former vice chairman of Onslaught local council, Mr. Adofu Stephen, was torched.
A former Majority Leader, Kogi State House of Assembly, Mr. Azania Mohammed, said that the natives were unsure as to whether or not to approach or call on the security operatives for help.
The armed attackers were said to have hidden in bush around the villages from where they launched attacks on their targets.
The herdsmen’s modus operandi is to set houses ablaze and open fire on fleeing inhabitants, slit their throats and dealing victims with matchete cuts.
The administrator of Omala LGA, Mr. Ibrahim Aboh, reportedly escaped by the whiskers.
Residents alleged the soldiers drafted to curtail the killings refused to assist the locals to repel the Fulani herdsmen.
“We were surprised that when we approached the soldiers who were stationed in the Guest House at Abejukolo for assistance, they refused to act professionally as they used their vehicle to block us from advancing to the troubled spot to help our people.
“It is clear that the aim of the Fulani herdsmen is to kill us and take over our ancestral homes. They have razed down Ojuwo, Ajomayeigbi, Iyade, Agbenema and Opada villages, so that they could use our land for their cattle colonies.
“We want the world to come to our assistance before these Fulanis exterminate and inherit our land. We have lost confidence in the security agencies posted to us. We believe they have been instructed to adopt ‘siddon look’, while we are being massacred.
“Right now, coordinated war is raging simultaneously in most villages in Omala, Dekina and Bassa councils. Our people are being killed and houses burnt even as our women are being raped while many children who ran from the theatre of war are still missing,” said a resident of Abejukolo.
Governor Yahaya Bello on Saturday visited Oganenigu where scores were killed and houses burnt by suspected Fulani herdsmen.