Suspected Herdsmen Kill Catechist, Two Others in Nasarawa Village

By Igbawase Ukumba

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen in the early hours of Saturday killed Mr. Sydney Shirsha, the Catechist of St. Mathew’s Catholic Parish, Obi in Nasarawa State.

Catechist Shirsha was murdered in his Amudu village in Giza chiefdom of Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State alongside two other members of the village.

An eyewitness said the suspected herdsmen, armed with sophisticated weapons, invaded Amudu, a Tiv village in Giza Development Area of the state, killing the catechist and two others in a midnight attack.

It was gathered that the attack left several others with various degrees of injuries, just as the incident has led to the displacement of over 20,000 Tiv farmers from villages within and outside the local government area.

The President of Tiv Development Association (TIDA) in Nasarawa State, Peter Ahemba, confirmed the ugly development to journalists in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.

He regretted that the Tiv people of the state have remained under sustained attacks by armed herders for no reason.

“The killing and displacement of the Tiv people of the state in the coordinated attacks have continued unabated since the first attack on Ajimaka community of Doma Local Government that led to the gruesome murder of nine persons about a month ago.

“We call on His Excellency, Governor Abdullahi Sule, to save our soul. We are being chased out of Nasarawa State and we are appealing to the governor not to allow the seemingly planned elimination of the Tiv community succeed under his watch,” Ahemba pleaded.

But when contacted, the Nasarawa State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Ramhan Nansel, said there was no report of such killings to the Giza Division of the state police command.