Many People Injured As Farmers, Herders Clash In Oyo State

Many residents of Ikoyi-Ile, Orire Local Government, Oyo State, were on Saturday injured in a clash between them and herdsmen in the area.

The residents, most of them farmers, had threatened to resort to further self-help if the Oyo State government failed to protect them from suspected herdsmen they alleged had been terrorising their community.

The farmers alleged the herders had killed one of them, raped their minors, destroyed their farmlands and had been terrorizing their community, giving them sleepless nights.

A chieftaincy title holder in the local government, the Babalaje (chief trader) of Agbe, Chief Joseph Oyekola, told our correspondent that the herdsmen were “seriously disturbing” the farmers in the community and urged he state government to intervene.

Oyekola said, “We don’t know what to do. If we take any step to revenge, it might lead to bloodshed. We want the government to take the necessary steps. Our king, who is supposed to defend us, has failed in his duties; he is now supporting the herdsmen against us.

“Herdsmen cut off the hands of one of our workers on the farm. They destroyed our farm produce. Another farmer was macheted on the head and some others were injured, while two of our minors were raped.”

A farmer, Usman Daudu, alleged that herdsmen destroyed 20 hectares of his farmland on which he planted maize, yam and tomato, adding they also injured him on the head with cutlasses as he attempted to chase them away.

Another farmer, Dominic Gbegbi, said the herdsmen destroyed his produce and macheted him 14 times when they invaded his farm with their cows.

The Onikoyi of Ikoyi-Ile, Oba Abdul-Yekeen Atilola Oladipupo, however, said that he had been making efforts to initiate peaceful co-existence between the farmers and herders in the area.

Oba Oladipupo said, “We have tried to resolve the issue many times because it’s difficult to separate farmers from herders. We have been living together for a while. I have taken a lot of steps on the matter to find a lasting solution to it, but it seems my efforts are not enough, so we need government’s intervention.

“I’ve had series of meetings with all the Baales (local chiefs) around me to find a permanent solution to the issue. In fact, I even had meetings with the Assistant Inspector-General of Police and the Commissioner of Police and they assured me they would come to our aid.”

Benue State Government seizes 230 cows, arrests four herdsmen

The Benue State Livestock Guards, on Thursday, seized 230 cows found grazing in the open in some parts of the state in contravention of the anti-open grazing law.

The Commandant of the Livestock Guard, Linus Zaki, said four herdsmen were arrested in connection with the offence.

Zaki explained that his team found a large herd of cattle grazing around Iorde, Gbajigba, in the Guma Local Government Area of the state when they were on patrol of the area on July 13, 2020.

He stated, “Again, on July 15, 2020, we went on patrol in the Gbaji area of the Gwer West Local Government Area and saw some cows grazing; we also seized them and arrested two herdsmen.

“Then, on July 26, 2020, we got information that some Fulani herdsmen were grazing their cattle openly at Daudu; again, we seized 80 cows, bringing the total number of seized animals to 230.”

Herdsmen Allegedly Caught Slaughtering Cow On Farmlands To Incriminate Villagers In Delta State

There was pandemonium on Tuesday morning in Oviri-Olomu, a community in Ughelli South local government area of Delta State when some herdsmen were allegedly caught planting incriminating evidence in a farmland by slaughtering a cow on the land. 

The herdsmen already had a recent case with the residents over the destruction of their farmland which was about to be investigated by the police. 

According to reports on the Guardian newspaper; the herdsmen slaughtered the cow with the intent of making the police to believe the cow was killed by residents of the community.

However, some women in the community protested the activities of the herdsmen in the area, where they accused them of destroying their farmlands and raping their women in their farms. 

While speaking, Mrs Esther Monday, chairperson of Olomu Women and spokeswoman of Oviri-Olomu community, said the women had been complaining about the activities of the herders but nothing was done until it got to the present state. 

“The herders would run to security agencies and the state government to complain that they were being maltreated whereas they were the aggressors,” she said. 

Also, a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity, told The Guardian that trouble started when some Fulani herdsmen wrote petition alleging that their cows were been killed and their houses destroyed. 

Meanwhile, the women promised to carry on agitating and protesting until the government intervened and moved the herdsmen out of their kingdom.