Six men of northern extraction in the Sabo area of Owo town in Ondo State were killed in the early hours of Wednesday.
The attack is coming on the heels of the Sunday’s at St Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa Street, in Owo LGA of Ondo State in which herdsmen were being suspected to be the masterminds.
The victims have since been buried on Wednesday while one of the victims who survived the attack was still receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in the state.
The attack occurred while the state is still mourning the murder of over 40 worshippers The Sarkin Hausawa of Ondo, Alhaji Abdulsalam Yusuf, told Daily Trust that the gunmen who came on motorbikes around 12:30am and shot petty traders by the roadsides.
“They came to our area (Sabo) on motorbikes and each was carrying three gunmen. All of a sudden, they started shooting people who were mostly suya and tea vendors.
“A J5 bus driver who was on transit and stopped to eat was the first victim. They killed a guardman and another shopkeeper who was trying to lock up his shop and run away from the assailants.
“They again gunned down two young men who were eating noodles at a mai shayi stall. That makes five victims in Sabo alone.
“Again, they struck another area called Iba where they also shot dead another man,’’ he added.
According to Sarkin Hausawa, he informed the divisional police officer in the area who dispatched a police patrol team to the place to assess the situation and evacuate the corpses to the mortuary while survivors were taken to a hospital.
Yusuf said the attack might be a reprisal because they had been living in the area for more than 60 years, peacefully, until the Sunday attack on worshippers.
While corroborating his Ondo State counterpart, the Sarkin Hausawa of Shasha in Akure, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the Hausa community had no hands in the Owo attack.
“We have been living peacefully for a long time with the people of Ondo State; we don’t have any problem with them. We are doing our businesses together, so what will lead us to attack them or to attack their church?
“We want them to know that our people have no hand in the church attack,” he said.
