Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has accused Fulani herdsmen of killing 15 persons in the state on Monday night.
Speaking on Tuesday at Obegu, in the Ishielu Local Government Area of the state, Umahi said the herdsmen allegedly perpetrated the mayhem carrying AK-47.
The Ebonyi governor urged security agents to fish out the herdsmen behind the killings.
Governor Umahi also revealed that he knows the sponsors of the herdsmen, vowing to expose them to the authorities.
He said, “I got a piece of very shocking news this afternoon about the attack on about four communities of Nkalaha, Obegu, Amaezu and Umuhuali in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state by AK-47 herdsmen that came yesterday (Monday) and killed 15 of members of these communities.
“I remembered that about a year ago, we had an incident of killing of two herdsmen within this same location and immediately the security agencies, the local government Chairman and the community leaders all came together to condemn the attack and the killing and we immediately asked the security agencies to fish out the people that did that and they did fish them out and as we talk, they are standing trial in Ebonyi State and the community and security agencies appeased the herdsmen and made peace with them.
“And so, it is very shocking that overnight, all the herdsmen in Ishielu local government vacated Ishielu local government which means that the local herdsmen in Ishielu are part of the conspiracy in the killing of our people. They vacated despite all efforts by the government, the governors of South-East and security agencies have been making to give them full protection not only in the state but in the entire South East.
“We feel so sad that this kind of thing should happen to Ebonyi State, we feel so worried for our country Nigeria and we are short of words.
“Good enough, we have some traces of the sponsors, we have the traces of those who came here. I will not disclose it but I am going to escalate the identities of the people to the highest authorities and we wait to see what they will do but we condemn this attack, it is not only happening in Ebonyi State. If it is allowed to go this way, it is capable of generating very serious civil war among the nation of Nigeria.
“I want to demand from the Security Chiefs to fish out these people because they are well known, they should fish them out, let them face the wrath of the law. It has happened in so many places and they were not fished out and that’s why this kind of thing is happening.”