Suspected herdsmen have reportedly killed one Oghenevwoke Okpako in a farmland in Abraka community, Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, burying him in a shallow grave.

A community source said the deceased’s decomposing body was exhumed from the grave wrapped in a sack.

The source said; “They were looking for him for some days after he went to the farm and didn’t return. The family consulted an oracle who told them that he has been killed and buried in the bush.

“The people now went into the bush to look for him. Others from neighbouring communities with similar complains also came looking for their people in the bush in Abraka Reserve. While the search was on, the herdsmen sighted them and fled the bush.

“Our people are farmers and the farmland is usually very lonely. We have told the herdsmen severally that we don’t want them in the farmland because they are destroying the crops.

“When the farmers go to the farmland and see the cows destroying their crops, they try to stop them, and in the process, the herders that are usually armed attack the farmers. This incident is one of such cases,” the source added.

Contacted, Police Public Relations Officer of the State command, Mr. Bright Edafe could, however, not ascertain if the attack was carried out by herdsmen.

He said “the family of the deceased came to the police station to report that their person was missing; that he left for farm and had not returned.

“The Divisional Police Officer constituted a search party comprising the police, members of the community, and the family of the man and went looking for him.

“They came back with his corpse recovered from a shallow grave. Investigation is on to unravel the cause of his death and who is responsible," he said.

(Vanguard)

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