Herdsmen abduct over 10 passengers, rape, stab to death woman in Abia

Passengers numbering over 10 and traveling from the University town of Uturu to Isuikwuato were yesterday abducted by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen along the Isuikwuato/Uturu Road.

This is even as a woman from Amagu, Mbaugwu, Uturu in Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State was raped and stabbed to death by hoodlums suspected equally to be Fulanis herders.

Reports have it that the passengers which is feared that lecturers and students of Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu may be among, were forced out of their vehicles by the hoodlums who had stopped them.

It was gathered that despite soldiers on duty at a nearby checkpoint engaging the hoodlums in gun duel, the gunmen succeeded in taking their victims into the nearby bush.

The newspaper reports that the locals have to queue up daily with several sizes of bowls and basins to fetch.

“Every day I come here and see the water dried up, it makes me cry,” said an old woman addressed as Mama.

“Now, not only do we use dirty water, it is not enough for everyone. To have water at all for your daily usage, you will have to wake up around 3 am to join a long queue.”

“And when that happens, we usually fall back on swampy areas for water. That’s where diseases like the one that made me blind come from,” said James, an elderly resident of Agasha.

Mike Igber, chairman of the water, sanitation and hygiene committee (WASHCom) in Agasha, said the military once donated a hand pump borehole to the community but it stopped working “a long time ago” and that no attempt has been made to fix it.

“The saddest tale is that no state government in the last 50 years has ever done anything about the community’s water dearth,” said Igber.

Like it is in Agasha, the river in Ipaav, Gboko LGA, once served the community, but these days, it has dried up and the residents have dug a makeshift well in a swamp around the area. Although the water is unclean, residents have no choice but to use it for their daily needs.