Gerau Dandawo, one of three armed Fulani cattle herders arrested by a local vigilante in a community in Delta State, claimed that Nigerian military jets provides them with weapons in the forests where they were hiding after carrying out attacks on farmers and villagers.
A vigilante chief who pleaded for anonymity said that the armed cattle herders were arrested on Sunday after a tip-off by a hunter who saw them in the forest on Saturday night.
“Last week, Thursday, a girl who went to the farm with her mother was raped by the Fulani herdsmen who also stabbed the mother. So on Sunday, a hunter who saw them in the forest on Saturday night informed us.
“When we got there, we were shot at but we overpowered and arrested them,” the vigilante chief said.
He said: “They confessed that military jets provided them with weapons and food in the forest.”
Meanwhile, contrary to a report by a resident of the community that the bandits were handed over to the police, the local vigilante chief said the terrorists are still in their custody where their fate will be determined by the elders in community.
“They are still in our custody here in our community (name withheld), we did not hand them over to the police because the ones we caught before and give to the police were released without our knowledge. The elders will determine what will happen to them,” he said.
Fulani jihadists disguising as cattle ranchers have killed at least 5,000 civilians in Nigeria since 2015 after Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani Muslim, became the country’s president.