There is palpable fear and tension in Ashige community, Lafia East Development Area of Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, following the killing of two herdsmen by yet to be identified gunmen.

When our correspondent visited the community on Saturday, it was gathered that the unfortunate incident occurred at exactly 8:00 pm on Friday.

Residents of the community said that they found the lifeless bodies of the herdsmen on a farm with several cuts on their faces.

One of the residents who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that the community woke up on Saturday morning to see the dead bodies of the herders, but was yet to know the cause of their deaths.

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He said, “We do not know what exactly led to the death of the herders. We just woke up today (Saturday) and saw their dead bodies. We only saw some police officers the with a Hilux van and who came to evacuate their bodies.”

A family member of one of the diseased, Seidu Adamu-Muhammed, said that he was informed about the unfortunate incident on Friday night about the death of the two herders.

He explained that as soon as he got the information, he alongside other family members rushed to the scene of the incident in Ashige community and notified the police about the incident.

He further narrated that on receipt of the information, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Adesina Soyemi, and his team arrived at the community and ordered his men to go into the bushes to unravel exactly what transpired but said that investigation into the matter was still ongoing.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, ASP Ramhan Nansel, said that the incident was reported to the command at 8:45 pm Friday when a distressed call was received that two herders were shot dead by unknown gunmen in Ashige community.

“Upon receiving the report of the incident, the Commissioner of Police, Adesina Soyemi ordered the deployment of police personnel to Ashige community to maintain law and order.

“He personally led the police officers to the scene of the incident where two corpses were recovered and deposited at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, where the doctor on duty confirmed that they were dead.

“The herdsmen had attacked and killed a villager in the community three days ago which is 18th of this month and that was the reason why the reprisal attack was launched on them which led to the death of the two herders but we are still carrying out further investigation on the matter,” he added.