A 28-year-old Nasarawa widow describes hiding behind the window and watching helplessly while Fulani herdsmen killed her spouse.

Agnes Apande, a 28-year-old widow, described how she witnessed her husband’s fatal machete attack in a rural community in Tse Agbande, Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, while she stared in shock out the window.

On Saturday, when her husband’s assailants arrived at their compound, the sad widow claimed she was in her chamber watching a movie. But, she was unable to call out for help for fear of drawing the killer herdsmen’s attention to herself and her kid.

As suspected killer herders raided their community in the middle of the night with rifles and cutlasses, the late Matthew Apande was reportedly killed with machete cuts in his neck and other areas of his body.

According to the Nation, Agnes claimed that the attackers, who numbered around nine, had attacked the community at around 10 p.m. on motorcycles and began firing randomly.

She continued, saying that due to the extreme heat, they approached her husband as he lay outside and killed him with a machete.

“Since I enjoy watching movies, we had purchased a little generator to keep us occupied whenever we returned from the farm. I was watching a movie with my sole son that fateful day while my spouse lay outside the home, she recalled.

“They initially began firing. I turned down the TV’s volume because of the sound of gunfire. I then slightly opened the window and noticed them. They rode motorbikes to arrive. When others descended, several of them waited.

“One of them immediately walked over to the generator and turned it off. Then I witnessed my husband being fatally shot in the stomach. While my son slept on the bed, they gathered his phone and searched the area with a torchlight to see if there was anyone else. I ducked and hid behind the door.

I observed them stealing his (the husband’s) phone and torch. I could tell they were Fulani because of the language they spoke, Fulfude. I found it impossible to believe I was looking at my husband’s physique. Once the gunshots ripped open his stomach, I noticed hatchet and axe cuts.

In actuality, they killed him anyhow, then hid his body inside the compound under a mango tree. They relocated to the neighboring village, where they murdered five more individuals.

She responded that a few days prior, “my husband along with other individuals had complained to some Fulani leaders after some cattle apparently ate up the soya beans they were harvesting,” when asked why she believed her husband and others in the hamlet were attacked. They planned to attack them, but I was unaware of this.

“Their cows ate up all the rice, cassava, and yams we planted last season, leaving us with nothing,” she continued. The soya beans were our last chance of surviving until the rainy season, when we would have to start over from scratch.

“We had hoped to sell the soya beans and buy enough food to last us the year, but the cows devoured it. Due to the development, my husband was upset, and he vented his resentment to the Fulani leaders who had permitted their cattle to consume his soy beans. He had no idea that they would pursue him.

The widow pleaded with security officials to catch the killers and prosecute them after expressing irritation that they were still using her husband’s mobile phone.

“We demand the arrest of the shepherds. We need assistance from the government. Our infant is still quite young. He’s only a year old, therefore I don’t need to train him in anything. It has been very painful for me to accept the death of my husband. The rewards for his labor were not relished by him. He had already begun planning for the upcoming season, but they prevented him from finishing it.”

It has been very painful for me to accept the death of my husband. The rewards for his labor were not relished by him. He had already begun planning for the upcoming season, but they prevented him from finishing it.”

“I experience loneliness every day of the year. Last weekend, we buried him, and since then, life has been different without him in it. We had great plans for the upcoming agricultural season before death came knocking, and he provided me a life that was generally ok. When I learn that he is gone, my mind is tortured.

She sobbed, “I am a poor village woman,” she stated.

Igbadoo Agune, 49, a neighbor of Agnes who managed to flee the attack because the intruders did not search his home, called Apande’s passing shocking. After the herders had left, he claimed that seeing Apande’s lifeless body had devastated him.