Tears and curses rolled freely among members of Uwheru Kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State on Thursday as the communities gave the corpses of 10 victims of the recent killer herdsmen attack ‘heroic’ mass burial, one month after they were gruesomely murdered by the arms-wielding herdsmen who invaded their farms.

It will be recalled that the corpses of the victims had earlier been exhumed by locals and security agencies for authentication as they were discovered in shallow graves in the forest of Uwheru communities where the killer herdsmen had allegedly buried their bodies.

Their burial followed the conclusion of an autopsy conducted at the Ughelli Central Hospital where it was affirmed that the victims were shot dead by the herdsmen.

The emotion-laden burial ceremony was held in Agadama, one of the communities in Uwheru Kingdom that is mostly affected by herdsmen attacks across the state.

The communities listed the victims whose corpses were buried as Dennis Itoje, Philip Emesharueke, Arhiakpore Steven, Oghenekparobo Emmanuel, Andrew Itiroghene Useh, Ochuko Ovwanre, Samson Coach Ogheneoruese, Kotor Boy, Abura Ejuweyere and Freeborn Isreal.
The remains of the ten deceased in ‘white caskets’ were transported in a truck from the morgue of the Ughelli Central Hospital at about 10:45 am to Agadama where they were buried amidst wailings by their kinsmen.

A brief Christian service was held in their honour at Agadama Secondary School where their kinsmen dressed in black attires had gathered.

A delegation of apex socio-cultural umbrella of Urhobo people worldwide, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) led by Chief Capt. Anthony Onoharigho (1st Deputy PG), Chief Sir Francis Ifie (2nd Deputy PG) and Chief Kenneth Iwhewhe, National Secretary also attended the burial ceremony.

Aside wailings, the people of the kingdom also rained curses on the killer herdsmen and berated the Federal government and the security agencies for treating herdsmen attacks in their communities with kid gloves.

The deceased were buried in central tomb built for nine of the victims few metres away from the Agadama Secondary School while one of the deceased who hailed from Ofoni, an Urhobo community in Bayelsa State, was taken home after the service for burial.

Speaking at the burial ceremony, the Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, who is an indigene of the Kingdom decried the killing of the victims by herdsmen, lamenting that their kinsmen can no longer go their farm lands owing to the herdsmen attacks.

The Commissioner insisted that the armed-wielding herdsmen who killed the deceased farmers were foreign Fulani herdsmen from Mali, Chad and other parts of Africa urging the Federal Government to ensure that the herdsmen were evacuated from their communities to enable their farmers return to their farming businesses.