From Elo Edremoda, Warri
The 10 exhumed bodies of farmers reportedly killed by herdsmen in Uwheru Kingdom, Ughelli North council area of Delta State, were on Thursday finally laid to rest.
The ceremony, conducted amid tears and curses, took place in Agadama, one of the affected communities.
The deceased were laid in white caskets, while a brief Christian service was held in their honour.
Nine were buried in a central tomb built for the victims a few metres away from the Agadama Secondary School, while one of the deceased who hailed from Ofoni, an Urhobo community in Bayelsa State, was taken home after the service for burial.
Dozens of sympathisers, including youths, crowded the Ughelli Central Hospital morgue, where the victims had been deposited for autopsy. The autopsy affirmed that they were shot dead.
Persons suspected to be herdsmen had attacked five communities in Uwheru community mid-February, killing and burning 10 farmers.
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Among the victims buried were Dennis Itoje, Philip Emesharueke, Arhiakpore Steven, Oghenekparobo Emmanuel, Andrew Itiroghene Useh, Ochuko Ovwanre, Samson Coach Ogheneoruese, Kotor Boy, Abura Ejuweyere and Freeborn Israel.
A delegation of the apex socio-cultural body, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), attended the ceremony.
The people of the kingdom took swipes at the Federal Government and security agencies for treating herdsmen attacks on their communities lightly.
Speaking at the burial, State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, decried the killing of the victims by herdsmen, stating that their kinsmen can no longer go to their farmlands owing to the onslaught.
He said the armed herdsmen who killed the farmers were foreign Fulani herdsmen from Mali, Chad and other parts of Africa.
He urged the Federal Government to ensure that the herdsmen were evacuated from their communities to enable their farmers return to their means of livelihood.
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