There was panic on Wednesday in Umomi community in the Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State when some policemen attached to the Ugwolawo division opened fire on a crowd of protesting youths. PUNCH Metro gathered that the youths were protesting the arrest and detention of some residents, including a retired police officer identified as Peter Adama.
According to reports, two of the youths, were shot dead by the officers, who immediately fled to their station.
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Our correspondent gathered that Adama and others were arrested around 11pm on Tuesday by some officers attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Idege claimed that the allegation was false, saying that the herdsmen had actually invaded and destroyed the community’s farmland.
A resident, Jeremiah Idege, said the operatives swooped on the community after some Fulani herdsmen reported that their cows had been killed by some residents.
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He said. “We have issues with the Fulani herdsmen and that has been on for as long as 15 years. They have been destroying our farmland with reckless abandon. As I speak with you, our community is wrecked.
“Later, the police said we should come to a roundtable meeting with the herdsmen so they could resolve the case; but we refused. We just asked them to leave in peace. If we collect any money from them, they will say they have bought the lands and they will completely take over what we have left.”
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“The little we have left was ravaged again by their cows recently and we reported the matter at the Ugwolawo Police Division. We were given four policemen to follow us to assess the level of damage done to our crops.