A herdsman, Muhammad Garba, who was grazing his cattle in the farm of one Segun Akinlade, in Imala area of Ogun State, has hacked the farm owner (Segun) to death during a fight between the two.
Garba allegedly killed the 35-year-old farmer on December 1 with cutlass. The farm owner tried to chase Garba away with a catapult and stone but lost his life in the process.
The stone, it was learnt, struck Garba on his forehead, in anger charged and a duel ensued between them as both were armed with cutlasses.
Segun who was overpowered, collapsed and allegedly died of injuries from machete cuts while his assailant – herdsman was arrested by the police shortly after the killing.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident and arrest of the herdsman, stated that the corpse of the farm owner has been recovered.
Abimbola; a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), stated further that the Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, has directed that the suspect should be transferred to the homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for further investigation and prosecution.
He stated: “The suspect was arrested following a distress call received by the police at Imala division that a fight broke out between herdsmen and farmers in Imala. As a result, the Divisional Police Officer, Imala division, Mobolaji Jimoh, quickly mobilised his men and moved to the scene. On getting to the scene, the corpse of the deceased was met on the ground while the suspect who also sustained machete cut injuries was identified and promptly arrested.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that trouble started when the deceased got to his newly cleared farmland and met the suspect grazing his cattle there, in order to chase him away, he used a catapult to frighten him but the catapult stone hits the herdsman on the forehead. This infuriated the suspect who brought out cutlass to fight the deceased who was also with a cutlass. The two of them used cutlass on each other resulting to the death of the deceased. The corpse of deceased has been deposited in the mortuary for autopsy.”