Some youths in Kona community, a suburb of Jalingo in Taraba in the early hours of Thursday confiscated 62 cows from some armed herdsmen who invaded Kona village.
Mr Innocent Shaukani, leader of the Kona youths who confiscated the cows told our reporter in Jalingo that the invaders fired in the air to scare residents of the village.
Shaukani, a farmer said that it took courage and grace of God for them to evade bullets from the three herdsmen who invaded their community in the morning.
He also said that the herdsmen destroyed plenty of crops on their farms, insisting that the invaders must pay compensation for their destruction.
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“We heard gunshots early this morning at 4.30 pm. and came out to see what was happening, and discovered that three herdsmen with cows had taken over our farms.
” They fired shots but thank God it was still dark so they couldn’t target at an individual but they shot sporadically.
“On our part, we were many chasing them and they might have felt we carried arms and they ran away leaving 62 cows which are under police custody now,’
” We want whoever owns these cows to pay compensation to those whose crops had been destroyed,’ He said.
Tribune Online reports that 62 confiscated big cows were confined in an uncomplicated building under the watch of some policemen in Kona village.
Chief Augustine Njenmang, Traditional ruler of the Kona community said that he had contacted the DPO of Jalingo Division on the matter.
Njenmang called on the security agencies to ensure that the owner of the herds pay compensation for crops they destroyed before the cows would be released to them.
According to him, we are a peace-loving people and will not allow our youths to take the law into their hands.
“I am appealing to the government to ensure that herdsmen do not graze on villages burnt before so as to prevent unnecessary provocations.
” We want peace and that is why we involved the police in the matter.
Efforts to speak to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) proved abortive as he did not pick or return calls.”
It will be recalled that some Kona communities in Jalingo recently came under heavy attacks suspected to be herdsmen killing several lives and burning houses.
The attacks lead to the imposition of curfew by the state government which is still from 9 pm to 6 am.
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