Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has ordered the police, the State Security Service (SSS), and other security agencies in the state to fish out herdsmen who allegedly killed five persons in the state.
In the declaration of the state government on Sunday, it was alledged that three persons and not five were killed by the herdsmen.
A statement issued on Sunday by the governor’s media aide, Crusoe Osagie, stated that two adults and a minor were killed over the weekend by suspected herdsmen in Ugboha, Esan South East Local Government Area.
Mr. Obaseki, who described the herdsmen as “bandits”, said they contravened government’s directive that cattle should not move at night in the state.
The governor gave the security agencies seven days to apprehend the killers, the statement said.
He condoled with the victims’ families and appealed to the people to remain calm as the killers would be arrested.
Edo, like several other states in Nigeria, has been battling fatal clashes between nomadic herdsmen and local farming communities over access and control of land for grazing.