Tales of attacks and deliberate disruption of businesses across the country by herdsmen have continued despite repeated promises by the Federal Government to check the menace.
Last few days, some parts of the South West geo-political zone boiled over as quit notices were served on the herders in Ondo State and Ibarapa, Oyo State.
The quick intervention of South West governors saved what could have been a terrible standoff.
The confrontation in part of Oyo was set off by the gruesome murder of Fatai Aborode, a doctorate degree holder and the CEO of Kunfayakun Green Treasure Limited and former House of Representatives candidate under the banner of the Accord Party in the 2015 general election.
Aborode was hacked to death on his way from farm at Igangan by suspected Fulani herdsmen. He was with his personal assistant on the fateful day.
His PA was said to have escaped with injuries when the suspected herdsmen attacked them near his 300 acres farm around Apodun Village in Igangan, Ibarapa North West Local Council Development Area at about 4 pm.
The deceased, who employed a good number of indigenes of the area, was said to have cultivated 300 acres of soya beans, 200 acres of maize and 100 acres of cashew last year alone.
Having invested billions of naira in the farm, the feat alone would have provided employment for a lot of the youths in the community.
Also, a business woman and owner of Subawah petroleum, Sherifat Adisa,was kidnapped and later killed by gunmen in Igbo-Ora, in Ibarapa Central Local Government Area of Oyo State while same day a medical doctor was kidnapped at his hospital in Tapa community in Ibarapa North Local Government Area.
The abducted medical doctor, identified asJohn Kayode Akindele, was taken from his apartment at the hospital and killed.
The chairman, IPMAN Ibadan Depot, Bukola Mutiu, in show of solidarity and protest said all filling stations in Ibarapa zone of the state should be shut.
“This killing and kidnapping has become so rampant as series of cases have been coming up recently. One of us, Sherifat Adisa, who was the owner of Subawah petroleum, was kidnapped at about 7:30 p.m. from her office and two people were also killed in her station. Her corpse was found at about 11:00
Likewise, popular Lagos-based traditional medicine practitioner Fatai Yusuf, popularly known as Oko Oloyun was killed on Eruwa-Igbo-Ora Road in 2020.
The trado-medical expert was shot dead while he was on his way from an outing in the company of two police escorts when some unidentified gunmen shot at his vehicle around 4:30 pm along Eruwa-Igbo-Ora Road in the Ibarapa Central area of Oyo early last year
Oko Oloyun who was confirmed dead at the General Hospital Igbo-Ora was said to be planning to establish his business in the area.
“He was here to develop our society because there’s no place in this southwest region that he has not established his business.” a resident said.
More so, farmers’ associations in the Oke Ogun area of the state had been complaining of their members’ ugly experiences with killer herdsmen in recent times.
A farmer and member of the association in Saki narrated his ordeal how he once harvested yams but “before i could pack them, some herdsmen led their cows there and made them to eat up the yams”.
He said he reported the case to the police but got no response.
According to him, “The same thing happened when I harvested another set of yams, so when I harvested the yams the third time, I applied chemicals on them. The cows ate the poisoned yams and all died.”
The farmer was arrested and detained in Saki for three days before he was transferred to the headquarters in Ibadan.
“We have suffered immeasurable losses at the hands of herders. They have killed our members in their numbers in places like Igboora, Ibarapa North and Ibarapa Central. Not only do they kill our members, they also destroy our farms. Once they run into my members harvesting yam, they would make their cows to eat the yams. The police don’t care about our plight,” the farmers lamented
“Herdsmen’s attacks on our members are more prevalent in Oke Ogun. Our members don’t get to eat the fruits of their labour. We are tired of all this. We don’t want the government to bring herdsmen’s settlement to our area at all. The government has never even given us anything to assuage the losses we have suffered,” they added.
Following the recent crisis, Secretary of Igangan Development Advocates, Lawal Akeem, disclosed that the community had been forced to pay about N50 million in ransom for different cases of kidnapping, while also accused Fulani herders of regularly vandalising farms and raping women of the community.
Another youth in the town, Taiwo Adeagbo, said that no fewer than fifteen women have been raped in recent weeks.
Aside economic losses recorded daily by the farmers, the killings, kidnapping and rape as well as other crimes brought to fore the worsening security situation in Oyo state and the South West in general.
This led to the unrest which erupted in Igangan, Ibarapa area of Oyo State last Friday after long suffering of the people of the area.
Thousands of youths from Ayete, Igboora, Eruwa, Tapa and other areas in Ibarapaland trooped out in large numbers to welcome Sunday Adeyemo, who is popularly known as Sunday Igboho, to Igangan penultimate Friday .
Having served the herdsmen in Igangan seven days quit notice, the youth saw Sunday Igboho as the only person that could lead them against those they alleged had caused them pains, sorrow and miseries.
Ekiti
In Ekiti, the state government in 2020 warned the herdsmen and farmers against any action that could lead to breakdown of law and order in any part of their grazing and farming areas.
The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Olabode Adetoyi gave the warning at a tripartite meeting of stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti.
Just last week, in a bid to continue to foster peaceful co-existence among the various ethnic nationalities residing in the state, Governor Kayode Fayemi inaugurated a peace committee tagged ‘Ekiti State Farmers-Herders Peace Committee’ in Ado Ekiti.
At the inauguration of the committee, Fayemi had stressed further that the activities of the peace panel would be coordinated by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and the Agricultural Development Programme, while the committee was saddled with the responsibility of appointing leaders of the herdsmen in various communities of their residence.
But within 24 hours of the inauguration of the peace committee in the state, was the report of another fresh havoc alleged to have been wreaked by the herdsmen in the state where multimillion naira worth of farm produce and properties were destroyed.
South-South and South East
The trending account is that of a female official of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) who was abducted in a church in Benin and taken straight to the bush. The abductors were no herdsmen, but the story took a crazy twist when she said she was sold to herdsmen.
She was now human cargo waiting for whatever the heartless forest demons would do with her when help came. Help came because she is an important personality.
She said she could not say what she saw and witnessed because her heart would cave in and probably burst. Others who passed through forests of death in the region talk about several persons tied to stakes and butchered at will.
Another current account happened on Thursday January 28, 2021, at Isuikwuato in Abia State. A news source said in Umuahia, the State’s capital, how herdsmen have occupied their forests. “The Fulanis, they said, dress in military uniform, mount roadblocks, rob, kidnap for ransom, and in some instances, kill persons unable to galvanise ransom, harvest their parts and sell to buyers.
“Same Thursday, at about 7.00am, the armed herders killed a man along the Uzuakoli-Akara (Isuikwuato) Road when they could not kidnap him. He was shot behind his car’s steering, in the chest.”
Enugu
Celestine Odogwu, a Malaysia-trained farmer, and a native of Ogor Affa in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, came back to Nigeria in 2014 with enthusiasm to set up Winners United Farms and Agro Industries.
His intention was to create an oil palm value chain, whereby the oil mill will be separate from the plantation, thereby creating jobs for so many people.
He wanted to prove to the world that Nigeria can produce good quality palm oil to support the economy. He started with the processing of registration and one of his products, “Wufag Palm Oil”, was eventually certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as well as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
However, that dream died, as herdsmen and their cows destroyed his oil palm plantation in Ogor Affa, his community in 2014 and 2015 and killed his farm manager, who wanted to stop them.
His plan was to have a large oil palm plantation, as obtainable in Malaysia and Indonesia, while the processing plant stands on its own.
He said that the Enugu State Government was fully aware of the incident, but “cowardly” refused to say anything or compensate him.
This is even as the Fulanis, who perpetrated the evil, when arrested, admitted to the crime, but the Police authorities were ordered to release the suspects, a report he got from the police investigating officer, who according to him is now retired.
Odogwu affirmed also that he appeared at the Nibo panel, where he made a good presentation before the panel under the chairmanship of one retired chief justice, Ene, but regretted that his company was never compensated for the loss.
Recently also, village farmers, mostly women in Affa, protested alleged annexation of their community, by Fulani herders.
Affa confederation is made of over seven autonomous communities, including Nze, Oghu, Egede, among others.
It is bordered on the west by the Uzo Uwani, whose northwesterly neighbours are communities in Kogi East. On its East are other Udi North communities and on the South is the Ezeagu LG area. North of it is Igbo Etiti Local Government Area in Nsukka senatorial zone.
According to the women, Fulani will come into your farm, even in your presence and uproot your cassava and other crops and signal their cattle to eat them up. They pluck your cashew nuts, carry the nuts you have gathered and pour into their sacks and walk away.
“And the worst is that they come into your home and carry your cooked food and eat it right before you. ‘No thank you, no don’t mention’ If you utter a word, they kill you.
“They come to fetch water – even water bought from the commercial vending tankers from your storage tanks and you dare not utter a word. Even if you lock the tank and flee, they cut open the plastic tank, collect water and leave the rest to spill over the ground, wasted.
In the farms, “They chase away men and young boys. If the natives are women, even old women, they rape them thoroughly. They rape the old; they rape the young, even kids.”
The women recalled that in 2017, Affa people were fined N5 million (N5,000,000) by Enugu Security Committee, headed by a retired army general, whose name was not mentioned and one Fulani chief.
The reason was that during the Christmas season of 2016, some angry youths had killed about 12 cows in a fight to stop Fulani cattle breeders from ravaging their parents’ farms.
They however, lamented that the same Security Committee has gone to sleep, while Fulani herdsmen have taken over their community and farm lands.
Odogwu observed that when you take away the economic livewire of a people, that you have committed an act of genocide against them and described what Fulani herdsmen are doing in Affa as an act of criminality.
He said any South-East governor still sleeping, believing that the most important thing to do now, is to stay in the good books of persons of power known to be friends with Miyetti Allah, is dreaming.
Delta
Herdsmen have continued to destroy farms belonging to Deltans just as they kidnap for ransom and even kill and bury their victims, and in some cases rape women in their farms.
Rev Fr Jude Ifeanyichukwu Onyebadi, a native of Issele-Uku in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State and resident priest in charge of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Issele-Azagba, Aniocha South LGA, is one of their victims as the armed herdsmen kidnapped him twice in four years, precisely in December 2016 and September 2020.
The two abduction incidents took place in the large hectares of land owned by his company, Ifeanyi Farms, in Issele-Uku. The farm produces corn and pineapple for local markets in Delta State as well as the markets in Onitsha, Anambra State and Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
Now, the priest who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ifeanyi Farms, no longer go to his farms to avoid being kidnapped. Only his workers go to work. He however, said he no longer see the value for the money he spends on payment of wage bills since he’s not on ground on the farm to ensure its adequate productivity.
For this reason and the fact that he’s not ready to continue to risk his life in the hands of herdsmen, he sees the farm folding up soon.
Should the farm close down completely, the priest said its negative impacts would be glaring.
“The food supply of the area (Issele-Uku and Delta at large) will collapse because my own farm alone can feed the whole of Delta with Corn and Pineapple,” he said.
“When they abducted me last September, they tortured me to make sure they got the ransom they asked for. They asked me to sell the farm or give them N100 million. The particular land in question, has over 100 hectares of land. I have farms here and there but the one they kidnapped me in was more than 100 hectares. They threatened that if I did not sell the farm and give them the said amount they would kill me,” he recalled.
He gave his abductors the phone number of one of the Reverend Fathers in his area that negotiated with them and millions were paid to them.
“I didn’t pay up to N100 million but I know a lot of money was paid in millions. People made the contributions to ensure I was released.
“I was truly attacked and injured while they moved me through the bushes in Issele-Uku and neighbouring communities like Issele-Azagba. At last they dropped me in front of Road Safety office, Issele-Uku, having collected the ransom,” he said.
According to him, “The first time I was kidnapped, the negotiation was different because I told them I was driver to the owner of the farm. This second abduction, huge random was paid because they tortured my workers one after the other until they revealed to them that I was the farm owner.”
The priest cum entrepreneur called on Federal Government to understand that the major reason government exists is security. Most communities in Delta State had in the past months set up Vigilance Groups in a bid to solve security challenges facing their people but the priest said: “No Vigilance Group with toy gun equivalent can face these herdsmen with AK47 and Pump Action guns.”
According to him, the impact of the activities of ‘Operation Delta Hawk’, a security outfit, inaugurated by the Delta State Government in December 2020, is yet to be felt. He decried a situation where those in government care not for the masses and urged Delta State Government and its officials to desist from being interested in filling their own pockets. “They should remember that success of any government is security”, he concluded.
How they operate
Inside sources said there is huge human parts traffic in West Africa feeding to Central and North Africa and beyond to minor Asia. Hearts, livers and kidneys are harvested fresh and preserved and sold at big prices. The worst is that the victims are allowed to witness the price haggling over their parts, a traumatic reality of death before dying.
The discovery of a link between common kidnappers and hardnosed killer herdsmen is said to be very bizarre. Analysts say it shows that whereas the common kidnappers are southerners, the herdsmen are from far north (Fulani). Yet, they found common ground, common agenda in evil and brutal killing.
Investigations also reveal that the single motive of asking for ransom is now archaic. The killers have found use in every person kidnapped; you either fetch ransom, sex orgy, organ harvest, or all. This makes the practice very deadly.
There are also ritual killers who are said to need human organs for a variety of fetish rituals and charms for young persons who need magical advancement and successes in many areas of life such as promotions in office, business success, court victory, and bullet proof (odieshi) potency against guns and machete.
This seems to render most places in the south-south and south east very dangerous to move about. Often, the killers venture into homes, roads and churches to capture persons. It was gathered that some herdsmen roam the forests and when they find kidnappers and their victims, they wipe the kidnappers out and collect their victims.
This could explain why most relations of victims do not hear anymore from the kidnappers or why they pay but do not get their relations.
Corporate investigation
The Chinua Achebe Centre for Leadership and Development (CACLAD) which has carried out an investigation and published a report few years ago gave an account of how these herdsmen operate
The report: Fulani herdsmen attack
We learned from the surrounding communities and from some of the Hausa elders about what constitutes a Fulani herdsmen attack. According to information we received, when there is a disagreement between host communities, or between herdsmen and farmers, the Fulani herdsmen who accompany the cattle will locate the nearest Fulani settlement and if there is none, they will locate the nearest Garki or Ama Hausa. When they arrive, they will narrate their story. The Fulani (Nigerian middlemen) cattle managers will notify their top Fulani herdsmen which in this case, include governors and other top Fulani bourgeois who own the cattle. A decision will be made about whether there should be an attack or not on the said village or host community. If an attack is sanctioned, then modalities will be mapped out and a date will be chosen for the attack. Most times, Fulani herdsmen in the military and police are notified and everyone sends a representative. Neighboring settlements send out representatives and arms cache are opened and arms are distributed to the participants. The major participants are the 20 to 40 Fulani herdsmen who reside in the Garkis and Ama Hausas. These are the Fulani warriors whose job is to kill.
During an attack, every Fulani person in the area knows there will be an attack and all will contribute to make sure it goes on successfully. Fulanis in the higher levels of the military will ensure all commands under them stand down, and the top Fulani police officers will do the same. The road is then clear for the Fulani herdsmen to carry their attacks.
Solution: job creation through herding
In proffering solution to the menace, the Chinua Achebe Centre, said: “Many of those who interacted with us suggested solutions that are very interesting. Most of the northern Hausas and the local communities suggested a ban on grazing in the affected states. A total ban would be the only way to solve this problem. Some argued that with the Fulani’s nature of encroaching on other people’s land and territories, any attempt to give them land would aggravate the problem and not solve it.
“Most villagers from Abia State suggested that these cattle be penned in the north while government releases money for people in the South to cut grasses, process the grass, and send to the north. This is the practice all over the world. They indicated that any attempt to take their lands and give to the Fulani would definitely result to a civil war.
“We agree, the solution is very simple; ban grazing, establish ranches for the cattle in the north, pay the southerners to harvest grass and send to the north. With this, everyone would be pleased with the outcome. This solution is expected to generate 1 million jobs in the South and about 500,000 jobs in the North. Also Fulani herdsmen terror will be totally eliminated.”
Ignatius Chukwu (Port Harcourt), GODFREY OFURUM (Aba), Mercy Enoch (Asaba), Remi FEYISIPO (Ibadan) and Gbenga Sodeinde, Ado Ekiti
