Survivors of the attacks on four farmsteads by armed herdsmen in Ondo State have narrated their ordeals in the hand of the bandits in the midnight attacks during which many people were shot dead.
Residents of Aba Sunday,mainly populated by farmers, told their horrific experiences in the midnight attack unbleached on them by the armed assailants.
The survivors are currently recuperating in a hospital when they were rushed to at dawn after the invaders had massacred several people in the communities in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State bordering Edo State.
A survivor of the invasion, who simply identified himself as John, disclosed that nine bodies were retrieved after the departure of their attackers.
John, who shot in the hand, revealed that there was no resistance from anywhere throughout the operations by the assailants.
According to him, “I was sleeping when I heard gunshots. It was when I suddenly woke up that I realised that the person who was sleeping beside me had already been shot. It was in the process of me trying to escape that I was shot in the hand.
“I was able to run into the bush before entering a cocoa plantation where I was able to hide till daybreak. I struggled with the hand that was shot, and I made it back in the morning, where I was quickly rushed to the hospital. Nine people were killed in our camp.
“Those that I saw are Fulani people. This is my fourth year in Sunday Camp, and we have never, for once, killed any of the cows belonging to Fulani people, so we did not understand the reason for the attack.”
Another survivor, who is still traumatized by the attack, Solomon Simon, disclosed that he was awoken by a loud call by the armed herdsmen around 2am.
Narrating his ordeal, Solomon said: “The attack happened around 2:00 am. I was not deep asleep. They made a kind of a very loud call before they began to open fire all round the camp.
“I summoned courage to flee the house before they could get to my own place. But two of my friends could not make it as well as they were killed in the house. They are herdsmen. We were able to retrieve nine bodies.”
However, on Wednesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Wilfred Afolabi, visited the scenes of the attacks and the survivors.
He also deployed officers from the Homicide Department of the command to the affected communities.
Addressing the residents of the communities, the Police Commissioner charged the people to be vigilant and inform police promptly for speedy and timely action.
He charged them not to spread unfounded information to avoid causing panic in the state.
It would be recalled that there were reports on attacks on four farmsteads in the borderline of Ondo and Edo states during which no fewer than 20 people were shot dead, while several others sustained different degrees of injury.
The affected communities are Aba Pastor, Aba Sunday, Ademekun Camp and Aba Alajido Camp within Ala Elefosan.
