Gunmen suspected to be Fulani militias on Sunday attacked Numa village in Andaha community of Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State killing 16 Mada natives during a naming ceremony.

The killings of the Mada natives is coming a few weeks after it was reported that some suspected herdsmen raped a Mada girl to death which had sparked off a faceoff between the herdsmen and the natives.

Confirming the ugly incident to journalists in Akwanga, the headquarters of Akwanga Local Government, the senator representing Nasarawa north senatorial zone in the National Assembly, Philip Gyunka, said the celebrants made up of the father, mother and the son were killed during the attack.

The Nasarawa senator described the killings as unfortunate, barbaric and uncalled for.

Gyunka said: “The unfortunate thing is that the celebrants – the father, mother and the boy – were killed. A pregnant woman is involved in this attack. An aged person above 100 years is also involved in the attack.

“They did not spare women or children and this are the people that don’t have arms.”

Gyunka said that he recently moved a motion on the floor of the Senate calling on the federal government to establish a military base in Akwanga, as according to him, “Because Akwanga is a range for people from Calabar, Maiduguri, etc, meet in Akwanga to go to Abuja.

“You can see that incidents of kidnapping and robbery on the Akwanga – Abuja road. This is as result of people moving with weapons unchecked.”

Also, the paramount ruler of the Mada nation, Samuel Gamu-Yare, while speaking to journalists in his palace about the attack on his subjects, said: “This thing happened like a thunder strike in the night and the terrain was too accessible and when we informed the police, the perpetrators have vanished.”

Gamu-Yare, who is the Chun Mada, confirmed that 16 people of Mada extraction died in the attack.

“We have 16 deaths while several others were critically wounded. The militias interacted with the celebrants during the naming ceremony before they suddenly resolve to sporadic shooting.

“Some of the assassins were identified and some names were mentioned and handed over to the security agents,” the monarch revealed.

According to the Mada monarch, “The situation is quite unfortunate, devastating that a peaceful, law abiding and innocent community like mine, which over decades have never involved in skirmishes either internally or externally, would be attacked when in celebration mood of a naming ceremony by men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.” (THISDAY)

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