A 35-year-old man, Patrick Nnabuchi, a native of Eha Amufu, Enugu State, on Monday escaped lynching by whiskers in the hands of suspected herdsmen in one of the secondary schools in Anambra State.

It was gathered that the labourer who resides in the state capital Awka was working in the school premises when he was allegedly attacked for challenging the herdsmen.

Narrating his ordeal to journalists, Nnabuchi, said that he was attacked for querying the herdsmen on why their cattle were grazing on the school’s vegetable farm.

He said: “I was taken unawares by the herdsmen as they attacked me from behind with a matchet attached to a stick.”

Nnabuchi disclosed that he was engaged by the school management to handle some construction work in the school and had been on it before the incident happened.

He added: “When I saw the cows trespassing on the farm and grazing on people’s farmland, I asked them to pursue them from grazing on the vegetables.

“It was not long after I walked away when one of them ran after me and hit me on the head from behind.

“I was unable to run after my attacker as I was unconscious for a while and before a security man in the school and one other person could arrive to the scene, the attackers jumped into an erosion gully within the area.”

Nnabuchi added that he was later rushed to a nearby hospital where he spent three days receiving medical attention.

The victim’s landlord and one-time Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain, Nwama Ibe, condemned the action of the herders. He harped on the need for the law of eastern Nigeria against rearing of livestock to be revisited.

While noting that the issue of Fulani herdsmen had become worrisome, Ibe stressed the need for the re-establishment of the 1960 anti-animal roaming law.

The former Ohanaeze Reconciliation Committee member called on the Southeast Governors to enforce the law in the zone in order to forestall such incidents.

Contacted for his reaction, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Haruna Mohammed, said that no such case was reported to the command.

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