A THIRTY-year-old Fulani man has been beheaded by assailants, who also killed two of his cattle.
The deceased, Alhaji Gyibo Toofor, and his brother, Gide Mohammed, took their cattle out to graze when he met his untimely death.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE at Agogo, Gide Mohammed disclosed that on 27th January, 2011, he and his brother were tending to their cattle at Mankaila and Abrapon around 3pm when they heard gunshots close to where the cattle were feeding.
According to Gide, they were relaxing under a tree while the cattle grazed some distance away. Gyibo thus went to see what was happening but as he got closer to where the cattle were, there was another gunshot and so he (Gide) followed suit.
He said as he approached the cattle, he saw four men brandishing guns and cutlasses so he quickly took to his heels through the bush to report the case to his elders.
The matter was reported to the police, who went with Gide to the location of the incident.
When they reached the scene, they saw the headless body of Alhaji Gyibo lying in a pool of blood, with a gunshot wound on his chest.
Gide said two bulls were also killed by the assailants.
Later in the night, according to Gide, the Agogo police were informed by a source that the assailants had conveyed the two bulls with a Kia truck.
The police, with that piece of information, traced the assailants to Madam Kwakyewaa’s house in Agogo and found the cow meat in the bathroom.
The suspects, Issifu and Hamidu, are on the run while their colleague, Kofi Sammy, who refused to reveal the other two’s whereabouts, has been arrested. Three other persons who were also suspected of being involved have been arrested.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Tanko Zakari, a spokesperson for the Fulani community in Agogo, said even though Gyibo’s head had not been found, they had to bury the headless body because as Muslims, they could not wait for a day longer to bury the dead.
According to Tanko, this was not the first time that such butchery had occurred in the area, but what was extraordinary about this particular murder was the missing head.
He was of the conviction that the head was meant for a ritual purpose.
He appealed to the people of Agogo and its environs to treat the Fulani cattlemen as human beings because they also contributed their quota in developing Ghana.
He said since the Ghanaian youth were not prepared to be cattle herdsmen, the services of the Fulani men could not be taken for granted.
From Eric Bawah, Agogo