1 killed, 2 injured over water pond in Abuja village

Suspected herders have reportedly killed one person identified as Ishaku Danjuma and injured two others in Gadoro community, Kuje Area Council of the FCT. A resident of Gadoro, Gambo Iliya, said the incident happened on Saturday around 6:33pm when some herders moved their cows to drink from the only pond that serves the community. He […]

Suspected herders have reportedly killed one person identified as Ishaku Danjuma and injured two others in Gadoro community, Kuje Area Council of the FCT.

A resident of Gadoro, Gambo Iliya, said the incident happened on Saturday around 6:33pm when some herders moved their cows to drink from the only pond that serves the community.

He said trouble started when the herders, who were migrating with their cows, stopped to drink water from the pond and the deceased, Danjuma, who was returning from the farm with two others, saw them and questioned them for allowing the cows into the pond.

He said two other villagers who were with him hit some of the cows with cutlasses to chase them out of the pond.

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He said one of the herders angrily pulled out his cutlass and attacked Danjuma, hitting him on his head and hands and he fell down, bleeding.

According to him, “Immediately the two villagers saw that Danjuma was injured, they also tried to engage the herders but they were overpowered because the herders were eight in number with many cows,” he said.

He said Danjuma and two other people who also sustained machete injuries were later rushed to Kwaku health centre, but Danjuma died soon after arriving at the centre.

The village head of Gadoro, Suleiman Adamu, confirmed the incident to our reporter.

He said the two others that sustained injuries were responding to treatment.

He said, “You know the pond is the only source of water in the village – as the only borehole that serves the community has broken down. So, my people went to dig a pond last week, where they can be getting water, but some migrating herders went to the pond with their cows and destroyed it.’’

The village chief said the deceased was buried on Saturday, adding that the incident was reported to security personnel in the area.

It would be recalled that a similar incident happened on March 2, 2025, when a villager was reportedly hacked to death by suspected herders at Riwaza community in Kwali Area Council of the FCT over a pond.

The police in the area confirmed the latest incident but declined to give details, referring our reporter to the command’s headquarters.

The spokeswoman of the command, SP Josephine Adeh, however, did not respond to a text message sent to her on the incident nor did she respond to calls put across to her phone at the time of filing the report.