A man, suspected to be a Fulani herder, has allegedly shot a 24-year-old Bayelsa youth in the neck after a Cannabis deal went sour. The unnamed youth was allegedly shot in the neck with an AK 47 rifle on Sunday in an attack launched by angry herdsmen on the Nyabiri community in Okordia/Zarama clan of Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State. Reports say the youth, who is presently being treated at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, was part of group fof youths that agreed a deal to supply Cannabis (locally called igbo) and
other unstated items to the fulani men. Their failure to fulfil their promise led to the invasion by the herdsmen whose continuous presence have made them de facto members of the communities in Okordia-Zarama.
A source quoted by Leadership said one of the Fulani herdsmen had visited one of the youth to receive the agreed items. “On getting to the place, he did not meet the Ijaw boy and decided to cart away some items," the source said. "When the Ijaw boy came back and was told what his Fulani friend did, he became angry.”
The shooting occurred after an altercation following the confiscation. “We suspected that he decided to challenge the Fulani herdsman and insulted him over the decision to cart away items from his shop without waiting to hear from him on their business deal.
"The Fulani herdsman was alleged to have brought out an A.K 47 rifle and shot into the air to scare him. When he saw that the Ijaw boy was not scared, he shot him in the neck.”
Poilce say the youth is recuperating in the hospital.
This is not the first shooting of a local by Fulani herdsmen in Bayelsa.
In December 2013, a cement merchant in his early thirties, Ebamugha Akeni, was shot dead by some armed Fulani herdsmen along the lonely Odi-Trofani road.
"Yes we are aware of the Fulani herdsmen attack and death of a youth," the state Police Public Relations officer, Alex Akhigbe said after the killing.
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