Why we killed 40 in Enugu massacre – Fulani herdsmen

Eight years after the massacre on April 25, 2016, which claimed the lives of at least forty people in Nimbo, in the Enugu State local government area of Uzo-Uwani, Mohamed Zurai, the only individual found guilty of the mass murder, has admitted to his involvement in the atrocity.

However, he claimed that he was so involved in the crime that he had videotaped the murders while remaining unharmed.

Herdsman Zurai informed Sunday Vanguard that the Nimbo slaughter happened because attackers in the Enugu village had beheaded one Alhaji.

While on an undercover mission at the Enugu Correctional Center, where he is awaiting the hanging man’s noose, he talked with our journalist.

Justice Anthony Onovo of the Nsukka Division of Enugu State High Court had, on May 17, 2023, pronounced the death sentence on him.

The murderer was among five suspects arraigned on May 9, 2017 for the mass murder in Nimbo on April 25, 2016.
They were charged with murder contrary to Section 274 (1) of the Criminal Code Cap 30 Vol II of the Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004.

Zurai was the prime suspect whose cell phone was found to have recorded the Nimbo killings.

Delivering judgment on the matter on May 17, 2023, Justice Onovo said, “In all, the only person who has been shown to have participated in the killing at Nimbo community on 25/4/2016 is the 1st defendant, Mohammed Zurai.

“He is hereby convicted as charged. The 2nd defendant (Alhaji Ciroma Musa) and the 3rd defendant (Sale Adanmu) not having been found guilty are hereby discharged and acquitted.”

According to him, many went for the operation but he used his phone to do a video recording of the killings in his image also appeared in the video as a selfie.

He disclosed that sponsors of the killings wanted to eliminate him while in prison custody, alleging that some persons were offered N300,000 to kill him so that he would not live to tell the story of what happened but that the request was turned down.

The murderer, who said there were over 20 that carried out the operation, however, denied killing anybody at Nimbo but said he was behind his colleagues and that his only job was to record the killings.

Zurai wondered why only he was convicted while his friends who were arraigned with him also participated in the operation but were freed.

He, therefore, pleaded for the telephone number of this reporter so that he could communicate with him afterwards since he agreed to help him get a lawyer who could appeal his death sentence.
Zuari looked 30 years old and fair in complexion.

MACBAN disowns fresh attack

Meanwhile, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has dissociated itself from the suspected herdsmen’s attack on the Nimbo community around the anniversary of the 2016 incident.

The latest attack came on Sunday, April 28 2024 and killed four members of the community.

The attack, which occurred at Ugwuijoro community where villagers had gathered to mourn the dead, also left many injured.
Reports had it that a member of the community was also shot dead at the nearby Opanda community, three days before the Nimbo incident.

The people of Uzo-Uwani LGA allege that there are many herdsmen camps around Ugboda, Adani and Opanda in the council area because of the thick forests there.

Governor Peter Mbah described the attack as unacceptable, vowing that the government would track down and bring the attackers to book.

Mbah footed the medical bills of the wounded people and awarded scholarships and jobs to bereaved family members while the Nimbo community asked the state government to strengthen their neighbourhood watch group.

MACBAN, dissociating itself from the attack, accused native security operatives of killing their members in the South-East.
National Deputy Director General of the group, Gidado Siddiki, who made the allegation, said their members and livestock had been targeted while he exonerated herdsmen of any wrongdoing in the zone, blaming kidnappings and other crimes committed in the bush and farmland in the zone on criminals.

Sidikki lamented that their markets had been indiscriminately destroyed under the guise of rooting out criminality, with no evidence of wrongdoing found on them, stating that even in the remote areas where they graze cattle, they face increasing threats from criminals without a response from the government or local leadership.

He appealed to the state governments in the South-East and leaders of host communities to recognize them as strategic stakeholders and refrain from “unfounded” attribution of wrongdoing to every herdsman out there.