On Saturday, January 11, 2025, at Paikon Bassa community in Gurdi ward, Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), suspected herders invaded a guinea corn farm, hacking a farmer to death and allegedly raping his wife.
According to Wokili Bala, a resident of Gurdi, the incident unfolded around 11:23 am when the herders, migrating from neighboring Zago village in Lapai area of Niger State, entered the farm with their cows. The deceased farmer, his wife, and two children were harvesting corn when the cows began eating the crops.
Bala recounted that the two children approached the herders, requesting them to move their cows out of the farm. However, this led to a misunderstanding, and one of the herders pulled out a machete. “As the man’s children were quarreling with the herders for moving their cows into the farm to eat up the guinea corn, trouble now broke loose,” Bala said.
The farmer, attempting to defend his children, was stabbed on the head by one of the herders. Bala narrated, “It was in the process of the farmer trying to defend his children that one of the herders pulled out a machete and stabbed him on the head.”
As the children escaped to report the incident, the herders trapped the farmer’s wife and allegedly raped her. Bala stated, “Before the man’s children returned from the house after they went to report the incident, the man had already given up while the woman had been raped.”
The farmer’s corpse has been buried, while his wife is receiving medical attention at a hospital. Vigilantes have mobilized to track down the herders, who fled with their cows. Bala said, “When vigilantes received information about the incident, we quickly mobilized to the farm, but the herders had fled with their cows, but we are tracing their location.”
