Suspected herdsmen kill Abuja contractor, two others in Niger

Some Fulani herdsmen have allegedly killed three persons, including a businessman and Chief Executive Officer of Spool and Waterbodies Limited, Adeniyi Odunlami.

The 42-year-old Odunlami from Ijebu Ode in Ogun State was said to have left his house in Abuja on Sunday, October 18, 2020, for the Kainji Game Reserve in Niger State to continue on a project he had been working on.

His spouse, Dayo Odunlami, quoting eyewitnesses, said after the day’s work, her husband was going back to his hotel room in the morning of Monday, October 19, 2020 when the Kainji Games Reserve Park vehicle he boarded was attacked.

Dayo, who is a former confidential secretary to Dr Doyin Okupe, ex-presidential spokesperson during the administrations of Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, told The PUNCH that her husband was abducted and dragged into the bush after being shot in the leg by suspected Fulani herders.

The herders, she said, claimed that he was one of the people that did not allow their cattle to graze at the Kainji Games Reserve.

According to her, no demand for ransom was made until his body was found on Tuesday October 20, 2020, in Borgu village, Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

She said, “One of his boys actually called and told us what had happened. His body was eventually found. The story was that he left the park and they were on their way out to get some items and go back to the hotel when they were attacked by the Fulani herdsmen in Borgu village.

“They were saying things like, ‘These are the people that do not allow us to graze our cattle’. They started to shoot. One of his boys said two other persons were shot and killed on the spot. My husband was shot in the leg, dragged out of the car and taken away.

“Initially, one of his boys was following them, even with the gunshot injury, because he was speaking Hausa and telling them, ‘Yankuri’, they told him to run and go away. So, he ran to the police station. By the time he got back there, the bandits were no longer there.

“He has friends at the Defence Intelligence Agency; so, one of them radioed their office in Niger State and they started to conduct some search. He was eventually found somewhere in Borgu village, but my husband had been killed. He had bullet wounds on his chest.”

However, several calls and messages to the Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Command, Wasiu Abiodun, on the incident were neither answered nor returned.