Herdsman strike in Imala community, kill farmer

The police in Ogun State said they have arrested a herdsman, Muhammad Garba, for allegedly killing a farmer, Segun Akinlade, in Imala community of Abeokuta North Local Government Area.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Saturday, said the suspect was arrested following a distress call received by the police at Imala division that fight had broken out between herdsmen and farmers in the community.

“On getting to the scene, the corpse of the deceased was met on the ground, while the suspect who also sustained machete cut injuries was identified and promptly arrested,” Mr Oyeyemi stated.

He said “preliminary investigation revealed that trouble started when the deceased got to his newly-cleared farmland and met the suspect grazing his cattle there.

“In order to chase him away, he used a catapult to scare the intruder, but the catapult stone hit the herdsman on the forehead.

“This infuriated the suspect who brought out a cutlass to fight the deceased who was also with a cutlass.

“The two of them used cutlass on each other, resulting to the death of the deceased. The corpse of deceased has been deposited in the mortuary for autopsy,” Oyeyemi said.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the homicide section of the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.