Here is Mrs Audu in hospital
By Olamide FAKEYE
Nigeria – A family in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, that had been under what could be described as subjective attacks by suspected herdsmen, have had to abandon their home for fear of being killed.
The victims, Mr. Adekunle Daudu and Mrs. Abiodun Jumoke Daudu, were first attacked in their residence in August, 2022; the invasion of their home on
February 28, 2025, in the dead of night, devastated them the more, resulting in their decision to go into hiding.
Mrs. Daudu recounted the family’s harrowing ordeal in a chat with ProwlingEagles, saying “We no longer live as couple; the recurring attacks have grievously separated me from my husband. Since we took the decision to abandon our home for fear of being killed, we have lost all the ingredients that flourish marriage. Death by a thousand cuts
”I can’t see my husband when needed, the same with him. We now live miles apart as squatters, even though we have a home that now gives us death by a thousand cuts.
In one of the instances – the attack on Friday, February 28, 2025, it was a female neighbour of the family, one Mrs. Modupe Elizabeth Adeola, that personally rushed Mrs. Daudu to Diamond Medical Centre for emergency treatment, and later reported the case at Akoko Area Command Headquarters in Ikare-Akoko.
Mrs. Adeola, a retired civil servant, took it upon herself to approach the High Court of Justice, Ikare-Akoko Judicial Division on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, where she deposed in a sworn affidavit that the family was repeatedly attacked both on their farmland and at home.
These incidents, she stated, have forced them to live in perpetual fear, noting that
”the attackers appeared to have deliberately targeted the family, leaving neighbouring houses untouched.”
Narrating the instances of attacks on the family in the affidavit, Mrs. Adeola said
”Daudu family has been living in fear since an initial attack in August 2022, when armed men, believed to be herdsmen, invaded their residence.”
Continuing, she stated that the family was forced to abandon their home for safety after narrowly escaping the attack, only for tragedy to strike again on Friday, February 28, 2025, when the assailants allegedly returned in the dead of night.
”On that day, at about 2:00a.m., I heard Mrs. Jumoke Daudu screaming for help For security reasons, I couldn’t rush out immediately, more so that I heard strange voices asking for someone they called ‘Megida’. I thereafter went for her rescue when I realized that the assailants had fled the scene,” she stated.
She further said in the affidavit: “The situation has become unbearable, and I am aware that the Police and the hospital have official reports on the matter. I swore to this affidavit for record and security purposes, so the authorities and the general public can take note.”
The affidavit, sworn under the Statutory Declaration Law of Ondo State (2006), concludes with a plea for swift government and security intervention to curb the recurring violence in rural Akoko communities.
As of press time, efforts to reach the Ondo State Police Command for comment were yet to yield a response. However, residents in Ikare-Akoko and its environs have expressed growing concern over rising insecurity, calling for tighter surveillance and protection for vulnerable households across the region.
Speaking relatively on Sunday, October 12, 2025, the Commander of Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun Corps), Adetunji Adeleye, stated that the biggest challenge its agency is confronted with is incessant clashes between farmers and herders.
Adeleye disclosed in Akure, the state capital, that the situation was terrible in the past as the farmers were living in fear and had their crops, invested with huge funds, destroyed by the rampaging herders, noting that the incessant herders and farmers clashes in the state are now a thing of the past.
