Nigerian Farmer gives motive for murdering herder

A farmer has confessed to k!lling a cattle herder in Ogun State and he have reasons for his action.

There was tension in Roro village, along Mile 8, in the Obafemi Owode local government area of Ogun State, when a cattle rearer reported his son missing after being chased away from a farm.

Rumours of an imminent Fulani herder invasion circulated as search efforts grew more intense.

The police, hunters, and community members banded together to find the herder. Eventually, his body was found in a shallow grave.

Subsequently, the community leaders suggested that everyone should take an oath for the truth to be revealed within 7 days.

However, a farmer and hunter identified as Taiwo Amos, reportedly confessed before the oath waa taken.

Narrating what transpired, Amos, a widower and father of three, said he visited his farm on September 2 after church service to see whether the trap he set had caught any animal for his family’s meal.

On arrival, he met a herdsboy tending cattle alone. According to him, he suddenly felt an irresistible urge to k!ll the boy.

He narrated: “I came back from church, stood up and went to check on my trap. When I got to the bush I saw him from a distance and a thought just came to my mind, telling me to go and k!ll him.

“I hurriedly went after him and k!lled him, it was after I k!lled him I saw a lot of cows scattered,” he confessed.

When asked if the cows ate his crops causing him to act out of annoyance, he responded saying, “He didn’t offend me at all, to be honest even his cows did not eat my crops”.

Amos, who insisted that he acted alone, explained that he made his confession because he was afraid of the oath and didn’t want his children or innocent people to suffer.

He said, “When investigation started in the village, they suggested that everyone should take an oath and within 7 days the truth will come out. Out of fear I went to meet the hunters and confessed that I was the one who killed the Fulani man, that was when I was brought to the police station.

“When the police arrested me, the story I told them was that I heard people shouting ‘thief’ and someone asked me to shoot him, but that’s all lies. I came out to say the truth because of the curses from the people I accused, I don’t want anything to happen to my children.

“I cut his legs because I was tired from digging the ground, so I had to bury him like that, no one assisted me in cutting or burying him and no one saw me shooting him,” he explained.

The suspect pleaded for mercy saying, “I want the government to please have mercy on me, I’m a first time offender”.