Two-year-old Msurshima Iorshie continued to cry restlessly as her young mother, Faith, and her grandmother tried to hold her in place on the hospital bed.
The disturbed mother of Msurshima, who kept crying uncontrollably at the hospital said the child couldn’t sleep through the nights as a result of the severe pain she was going through.
“This is how she cried throughout last night till this morning. She cannot sleep because of the pain. I don’t know what to do anymore,” said Faith as she tried to hold back tears.
Narrating how it all happened, the mother of one said she and her husband had left the little baby in the care of her grandfather in their village, Tyotugh, Tarka LGA, and went to another village to farm. Because they had a little farmhouse, they usually stayed and worked on their farm for days and sometimes weeks before returning to their own village.
Sadly, on Monday night, some suspected armed herdsmen stormed their village while the residents were asleep and shot in all directions, killing several people, including Msurshima’s grandfather and injuring others.
By the time the dust settled, 15 bodies were initially picked on Tuesday morning from the scene of the attack, while three other bodies were later evacuated from the bushes around the village on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths from the attack to 18.
Faith said: “l left Msurshima in the custody of her grandfather, my husband’s father, and went to farm with my husband in a neighbouring community, where we used to spend a few days in the farm, because we have a small residence in the farm.
“At the farm, we were alerted that night that armed herdsmen were moving towards our community. We hurriedly ran back only to discover that they had already attacked our village. They were said to be chasing and shooting at anybody they saw.
“Our grandfather had made attempts to escape with my daughter and others but he was shot dead. My daughter that he tried to escape with was also shot her in her vagina.
“After the armed herders retreated, one of my brothers who went in search of our family members saw her where she lay motionless looking as if she was dead but it was discovered that she was still breathing. At that time our grandfather was already dead.
“We hurriedly carried her to a hospital in Wannune, the local government headquarters, for treatment. They revived her and we were immediately transferred to the teaching hospital on the orders of the state government for better treatment.”
Another child, seven-day-old Terswe Aondover, who was also wounded in his right shoulder and hand during the Tyotugh attack, is also recuperating at the paediatric ward of BSUTH, where his grandmother, Joy Aondover, is looking after him.
Like Msurshima, 70-year-old father of seven, Pa David Iortom, is also at the BSUTH battling for his life after he was mercilessly matcheted on his face by marauding herdsmen, who invaded his Iortam village near Ukpiam, in Guma LGA of the state.
The attack, which left Pa David with slit nostrils and badly butchered cheeks, was said to have also left some persons killed and others injured.
Although Pa David was asleep when the press visited, his 35-year-old son, Jacob Tesega Iortom, narrated how his father narrowly escaped death after herdsmen invaded their village unexpectedly that fateful day.
“On Sunday, last week, my father and some members of the community were on their way to a nearby farm within our village at Iortam, near Ukpiam, when Fulani herdsmen suddenly appeared from nowhere and attacked them.
“We later heard that some people died in the attack while several others, including my father, were injured. Two of the injured, who were evacuated to the hospital, died in my presence here at the hospital.
“Many more people would have died from the attack but for the quick intervention of troops of the Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS), who were stationed at Umenger community, who heard the gunshots and rushed to our village to rescue our people. However, the attackers ran away before the soldiers came."
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