A Nigerian pastor identified as Daniel Danbeki, alongside 37 others have been murdered in Nasarawa State.
They were slained by suspected herdsmen in attacks on Takalafia and Kwaja in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, The Nation reports.
Danbeki, it was learnt, was the pastor-in-charge of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), in the council.
The victims, who were given a mass burial on Saturday, included women and children.
Deputy Governor Emmanuel Akabe, led a government delegation to the mass burial, which was conducted amid tears by sympathisers.
Akabe, who condemned the killings, assured that the government would bring the perpetrators to book.
The deputy governor promised that relief materials would be sent to those displaced.
The Chairman, Karu LGA, James Thomas, who visited the communities before the mass burial, condemned the attacks .
Thomas, represented by his deputy, Lawal Karshi, appealed for calm and vowed to work closely with security agencies to arrest the perpetrators.
A source told The Nation that a disagreement between a farmer and a herdsman led to the incident.
“Cows ate the crops belonging to a farmer. That angered the farmer, leading to a disagreement between them. The herdsman brought out his cutlass and started fighting the farmer. But the farmer overpowered him, snatched his cutlass and fought him back, leading to the herdsman’s death.
“This was what led to the killings of residents of this area by the herdsmen,” a source said.
As of the time of filing this report, the bodies of others who escaped with bullet wounds into the bush were still being recovered. They were taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, mortuary.
