A palace guard yesterday explained how the Saf Ron Kukere, Lazarus Agai, a first class chief in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, died.
Bala Abis, one of the palace guards who accompanied the traditional ruler to Sha on Monday said contrary to reports that the chief was shot by Fulani herdsmen, the Saf Ron Kulere was strangled to death.
Abis who spoke to Daily Trust said the paramount ruler, himself and seven others on Monday went to Shaa village to fix a culvert but had to leave when it started to rain.
Abis said; “I and another woman were sitting behind in the Hilux van, some people were sitting on the back seat while Baba (traditional ruler) and his son were in front, there was no road block. At some point during the journey, we started hearing gun shots. When I looked up, I saw two people wearing black from head to foot. I then noticed that the woman with me had been shot, so I laid down. When I lifted my head, I saw that Baba had jumped out of the vehicle and was running in the opposite direction. At that point, one of the assailants directed his gun at me so I rolled into the bush where I stayed for about 20 minutes and only came out when the gun shots ceased.”
The palace guard added; “when I came out, I put a call through to the palace to let them know what happened. After that I heard one of the women we were with screaming that her son had been shot; he is just about six-years-old. I helped her carry him and we found some people who claimed they also heard gunshots and they gave us a motorcycle to convey them to the hospital. Then I asked the people to help me trail Baba and we started looking for him. We eventually found him floating in a stream. He was lying on his back, we didn’t notice any gun-shot wound on him but we noticed a hand imprint around his neck so we concluded that he may have been strangled.”
Bala Abis, one of the palace guards who accompanied the traditional ruler to Sha on Monday said contrary to reports that the chief was shot by Fulani herdsmen, the Saf Ron Kulere was strangled to death.
Abis who spoke to Daily Trust said the paramount ruler, himself and seven others on Monday went to Shaa village to fix a culvert but had to leave when it started to rain.
Abis said; “I and another woman were sitting behind in the Hilux van, some people were sitting on the back seat while Baba (traditional ruler) and his son were in front, there was no road block. At some point during the journey, we started hearing gun shots. When I looked up, I saw two people wearing black from head to foot. I then noticed that the woman with me had been shot, so I laid down. When I lifted my head, I saw that Baba had jumped out of the vehicle and was running in the opposite direction. At that point, one of the assailants directed his gun at me so I rolled into the bush where I stayed for about 20 minutes and only came out when the gun shots ceased.”
The palace guard added; “when I came out, I put a call through to the palace to let them know what happened. After that I heard one of the women we were with screaming that her son had been shot; he is just about six-years-old. I helped her carry him and we found some people who claimed they also heard gunshots and they gave us a motorcycle to convey them to the hospital. Then I asked the people to help me trail Baba and we started looking for him. We eventually found him floating in a stream. He was lying on his back, we didn’t notice any gun-shot wound on him but we noticed a hand imprint around his neck so we concluded that he may have been strangled.”
