Adeyinka Adedipe, Benin Suspected Fulani herdsman, armed and dressed in military uniform, on Sunday reportedly invaded a farming communi...
Adeyinka Adedipe,
Benin
Suspected Fulani herdsman, armed and dressed in military
uniform, on Sunday reportedly invaded a farming community, 2nd Abumere Ojigbelu
Camp in the Ovia Northeast Local Government Area of Edo State.
The marauders were said to have chased the villagers away
taking over their farms, homes and properties. Some of the villagers who
escaped are now taking refuge in other communities around Okada.
One of the victims, Mattu Alli, from Taraba State narrated
his ordeal: “I lack words to explain what I witness in our community. I have
been here for over 20 years with my family and we farm. I was in my compound
with my family having a good time when we started hearing gunshots and saw
people running in different directions.
“I saw one Benin man running towards my compound, I asked
him where he was running to and he said herdsmen have taken over the village
chasing people away from their houses. So I called my wife and we ran for our
lives. I did not see my children every one of us ran in different directions.
As I speak to you now, I don’t know the whereabouts of my wife and children.
“One of the Fulani herdsmen pointed a gun at me and said
they were for peace. He said they would only kill people if they refused to
allow their cows to feed on their crops. ‘The yams and cassava you people have
are for our cows. If you people touch our cows we will kill everybody in this
village.’ For us to be safe, we ran to the next community.
Another victim, Sunday Chimen, said: “I have been in this
village for over 20 years farming. What we saw surprised us. We heard gunshots
and people running in all directions. We later discovered that Fulani Herdsmen
had taken over our community with sophisticated AK 47 and threatened to kill us
if we didn’t cooperate with them.
“For us to stay alive, we decided to run for our dear lives
leaving our properties and running to unknown places. We are calling on the
security agencies to come to our aid as our community is under siege.”
Mrs Ngozi Chimen who was also affected said: “The nefarious
activities of these Fulani herdsmen have been going on in our community for the
last two months. They entered into our farms, chased us away and harvest our
plantain to feed their cows. You dare not look at their faces. Some of them
were in Army uniform. We need help, we need government assistant.”
When contacted, the Edo State Police Command Public
Relations Officer, SP Kotongs Bello, said he has not been briefed on the
development.
However, he promised to get back as soon as he finished
speaking with the Division Police Officer in charge of the area but was yet to
do so at the time of filing this report.
No comments