Suspected herdsmen set school ablaze in Kogi

Suspected herdsmen on Wednesday afternoon invaded and burnt down Government Secondary School, Iluke, Kabba Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

BusinessDay gathered that the school was invaded at about 3pm when students had closed from school.

According to a source, a block of classrooms was set ablaze by some suspected Fulani herdsmen and the flame attracted youths who mobilised themselves to the scene.

All effort to put out the flame was not successful as some of the classrooms were already razed.

The source equally disclosed that one of the herdsmen was arrested and handed over to the Kabba/Bunu Divisional Police Officer.

When contacted, Ayuba Edeh, Kogi State Commissioner of Police, said no suspect had been handed over to the state headquarters of the command and that the command was still waiting for report from the divisional headquarters before he could make substantive remarks about the story.

In a related development, a timber contractor based in Ayangba, Ogwu Salihu, has been killed by unidentified gunmen.

The incident also took place in the early hours of Wednesday at the house of the deceased’s girlfriend, where he went to pass the night.

The girlfriend, whose name was given as Safiya, had four children for her former husband before they separated.

The relationship between Safiya and the deceased was said to have been a subject of controversy as the late timber contractor was alleged to be the person behind Safiya divorcing her husband.

Isiak Shaibu, chairman, Dekina Local Government Council, who attended the funeral with the Divisional Police Officer, condemned the killing and vowed to bring those behind the dastardly act to book.

Ogwu is the third person to be killed by gunmen in Ayangba community within four months.

The first victim of the assassinations in the area was former chairman of Dekina Local Government Council, Adejo Akowe, who was murdered in broad daylight at a restaurant near the university at Ayangba.

This was followed by the murder of a police officer, an indigene of the community, who came home for holiday during Christmas.

Residents of the university community are now living in fear as insecurity worsens.