Two Fulani herdsmen arrested for allegedly raping 14-year-old girl

Two Fulani herdsmen, Umar and Musa Ali, who are brothers, have been arrested by men of the Nasarawa State Police Command for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl at Tudun Lambaga in the Eggon Hills area, Eggon Local Government Area of the state.

The victim, simply identified as Esther, was reportedly ambushed and assaulted by the suspects at a secluded part of the road.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Nassarawa, DSP Kennedy Idirisu, Umar and Musa had been apprehended following a complaint by Esther’s parents.

Narrating her ordeal in an interview with journalists in Lafia, Esther stated that she was with four others when the incident happened.

She said she and the others had earlier ignored the boys when they approached them, but the duo subsequently ambushed them at a lonely and secluded part of the road where they threatened her with a knife and cutlass.

Esther said: “On our way down from the hills when we passed by the settlement of the Fulani, we saw the Fulani people and my brother’s wife greeted them but they did not respond.

“As we were going, I stopped to strap my niece properly on my back and I saw the Fulani boys. My brother’s wife asked why they were running after us and one of them said all they wanted was sex and that if we refused they would kill us.

“I was crying and pleading and my brother’s wife was also pleading with them. She even removed her clothes saying that she was sick and that she was on her way to the hospital.

“They said they were not interested in her, that they wanted me and they must have sex with me. I refused to have sex with them, but after they threatened me with a knife and machete, I had to succumb. The first one raped me by the roadside, while the second one carried me to the bush and also raped me,” Esther narrated.