■ Women raped, farmers sacked, crops destroyed ■ Homes invaded, natives kidnapped ■ Community threatens reprisal if…
BY PAUL OSUYI
Suddenly, anxiety crept into Ibu sa. The once jolly, agrarian but densely populated community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State is now under the siege of committed bandits. The natives say these brigands are Fulani herdsmen who plague them like pestilence. Originally, according to the people, the strangers were peaceful and went about their nor mal grazing of their cattle, without harm to them and their property, especially their farm lands. But today, these once-harmless individuals have become terrors to the community and everything that belongs to the indigenes.
The herdsmen now attack farmers and hunters in the bushes that surround the com munity, dispossessing them of their belong ings, destroying crops and raping their women and young girls. Besides, they are accused of being masterminds of series of highway rob beries on the Benin-Asaba expressway, Asaba- Ibusa, Ogwashi-Uku-Ibusa road and Azagba- Ogwashi-Uku road. Earlier in the year, two luxury buses with passengers coming from the eastern part of the country were diverted into the bushes on the Benin-Asaba expressway by bandits. They were said to have robbed the passengers and raped females among them. Victims of this unfortunate incident said their attackers were of the Fulani stock.
And it would appear that they have taken their activities to some notorious heights. A victim, who fears to be mentioned, said these assailants had promised the community that their (herdsmen) would resort to meeting na tives in their houses and kidnapping them. And true to type, kidnapping has become almost an everyday occurrence. They are now making good that promise –invading private homes and kidnapping residents for ransom. Their actions in the past two months have raised speculations that the herdsmen are extension of the deadlyBoko Haram sect operating in the northern part of the country.
This has instilled fear among natives of the community who are now threatening a reprisal attack unless security agencies and relevant authorities do something urgent to arrest the trend.
A kidnapped victim, Mr. Nelson Okonkwo, who was abducted together with his younger brother, said the experience in the hands of the herdsmen was horrible, adding that N1.8 mil lion was paid as ransom.
According to him, he had just picked his medical doctor brother from the Asaba airport and they both went to inspect a parcel of land, which they intended to acquire for develop ment purposes when the vicious men swooped on them.
“A group of six armed Fulani men surround ed us and tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us. They put their knives on our throats and then we started screaming, telling them that we had some money in the car and that they should put down the weapon.
“I told them that we had N500,000 inside the car.” Before then, their tormentors had dispossessed them of everything, including telephone handsets, cash and other valuables. “When they got to the car, they found the money and also arrested the driver who took us there.
“We were tied up and dragged into the bush, where we were detained for several hours. Three of them later left, probably to tend to their flock and re-emerged later before we started another round of negotiation for ransom.
“I told them that I still have some money to give to them if they allowed us to go. It was not until about 8.30pm that they agreed that I should go and bring N20 million. They still held on to my brother while allowing the driver and I to leave.
“The next day we talked on phone and we concluded and they told me where to find them which is not too far from the town. I took mon ey to them and after about 30 minutes, they released my brother. A total of N1.8 million, including the N500,000 was paid as ransom,” Okonkwo narrated.
His medical doctor brother, who just returned from China, was stripped bare as he lost almost everything including two expensive handsets, personal effects and even his under-wears to the hoodlums.
“That is the situation but there is a worrisome aspect of it which is the threat that they would be coming to deal with the people of Ibusa, describing us as wicked. They said they would be coming to pick us from our homes, and true to their threat, five days later, they kid napped a very popular musician in his home and held him for three days. After paying a ran som of N2 million, they released him.
“Before then, another man was picked up and quite a large sum of money was squeezed out from him. It is a terrible situation and it is so bad that our men and women no longer go to their farms,” Okonkwo lamented.
The herdsmen were also said to have kidnapped Mr. Emeka Onyeobi, son of Chief Patrick Onyeobi, former Head of Service and Secretary to the defunct Bendel State Govern ment.
The 49-year-old architect and father of five, who was held hostage for three days, was kid napped at about 5.30pm at a construction site on the Achalla-Ibusa road by a gang of four men.
Moreover, a native of Umunede, Mr. Frank Bakwue, who has spent 26 years in Ibusa com munity, had a close shave with death when the vicious men accosted him at his farm after de stroying his crops.
His farmland, measuring 10 acres, which he got courtesy of the Ibusa Multi-Purpose Farm ing Society, was reduced to a mere desert by the activities of herdsmen who took out their animals for grazing.
According to him, over N3 million was invested in the cultivation of two bags of corn, 85 bundles of cassava, sugar-cane and 42 bunches of pumpkin (ugu), adding that the crops were close to being harvested when the destructive agents struck.
“As the crops continued to grow about two months after planting, I came to my farm pre cisely on June 14, 2014 and I could not believe what I saw. The whole farm was grazed and it became a desert. I went to the police station to report.
“Then on July 4, I went to the farm again, but on getting there, I shed tears because all I had laboured for had been destroyed by cattle. They were grazing on the farm at their con venience.
“I now managed to cut some vegetables and as I was tying them up, I raised my head and saw two herdsmen by my side. What they had in mind was to eliminate me, if not for God.
“They brought out matchets and said they were going to kill me. I told them that I am not from Ibusa; that I am from Azagba. I told them the farm belonged to my brother. They took my handset and remarked that they thought I was from Ibusa that they would have killed me. Then they started going and after about two poles, they violently reversed and chased me into the bush but I was able to escape un hurt,” he said.
He continued: “For four days, I could not recover from the shock. I did not return to Ibusa immediately because they boasted that they would be coming to Ibusa to pick people from their houses. Most residents who were tortured in their farms are not cou rageous enough to speak out. For me, I have vowed never to return to that farm.”
Apart from destroying crops and dispossessing hunters of their guns, the intruders also confiscate prepared meals from the huts of farmers and eat such food, aban doning the cutleries in the bush.
A 67-year-old farmer simply identified as Ashibuogwu,was a victim of such. He had prepared a delicious meal of yam and beans for lunch when the unwanted visitors stormed his hut, removed the sumptuous meal, unleashing terror on the victim in the process.
There was another farmer who had just put down a pot of yam from the fire when the invaders came. They were said to have in flicted matchet cuts on him before making away with the pot of yam. The pot was discovered at the be ginning of another farming season in the bush where it was recklessly abandoned.
Not left out in the raid are petrol stations and table water company along the non-too-busy Ibusa-Og washi-Uku road which was alleged to have been sacked by the herds men who normally visit at will to loot and harass workers. Life indeed, has been hellish for the people of Ibusa, as they have lit erarily become strangers in their own land. Sustaining their means of livelihood is now very difficult because they hardly go to the farm for fear of being attacked by Fu lani herdsmen.
“Farmers, hunters and women in Ibusa are no longer safe; they can’t freely go about their eco nomic and social activities because of fear of molestation. Even travel lers are not safe as well, as most motorists have fallen victims to armed robbery attack perpetrated by herdsmen.
“Over eight hunters have lost their weapons in the past to the herdsmen who dispossessed them at separate times. Most times, they rob motorists between Ibusa and Asaba, Ibusa and Ogwash-Uku, between Azagba and Ogwash- Uku.
“Their modus operandi is that they will divide themselves into two groups – while one will be at the front, the other one will be at the back thereby trapping the driver of a vehicle at the centre,” a source in the community volun teered.
According to the source, Ibusa is now under the siege of herds men who allegedly destroy crops, rape women, kidnap people and even kill hunters. “We are fright ened and I am afraid that if nothing is done, we may decide to defend ourselves.” Worse, according to the some members of the commu nity, it doesn’t seem that the police have deemed it expedient to inter vene. “It does not look like the po lice are doing anything to help us. I am making a special appeal; let the authorities do something now before we take the laws into our hands,” an obviously angry young man in his mid-20s fumed.
When contacted, Public Rela tions Officer of Delta State Police Command, DSP Celestina Kalu, while confirming the disturbing activities of herdsmen, urged Ibusa residents to be patient and avoid taking the laws into their hands, saying that the command was do ing everything possible to contain the situation.
She said the committee set up by the Delta State Government and formerly headed by the now retired Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, was still very active since the new commission er, Alkali Baba Usman, mounted the saddle.
Meanwhile, the traditional ruler of the town, Obuzor of Igbuzo, Prof. Louis Nwaoboshi, who de scribed the menace by herdsmen as a national phenomenon, charged the forestry and environmental de partments to see how grazing re serves can be created.
He said the traditional institu tion of Ibusa was very concerned about the situation and was work ing with relevant stakeholders, including the police and the lead ership of Hausa community to contain what he described as nec essary evil.
“Our pre-occupation is how to accommodate this necessary evil. It is a necessary evil or would you say you will not eat the beef again? All that you have said is right, that they (herdsmen) have been menac ing in their activities. They go to farms and harass the owners at gun point and try to harvest what does not belong to them.
“We can’t even define the scope of what they do here but the caveat I want to add is that though, it hap pens here, most of the perpetrators come from other communities to carry out the evil and go back,” he said, perhaps exonerating Hausa community of any complicity.
“It is difficult to narrow it to cat tle-rearers because, at some point in time, you find out that the non-cattle dealers hide under the guise of being cattle-rearers, and that is even more intriguing and more dif ficult to curb than the real Fulani herdsmen.
“The leadership of the Hausa community here at Ibusa is part of our system in Ibusa. I will say that most of the Hausa people are with us in trying to guard against anybody that would tarnish their image, so they are working along with the community,” the monarch added.
He described the development as a nation-wide challenge, attrib uting it to lack of reserved areas for grazing and affirmed that the local government council and the state government were very much concerned about the situation in Ibusa.
“It is a nationwide menace. It is happening in Nasarawa, Taraba and other states, so Ibusa is not re ally an exception. But it is a ques tion of land use management.
“Personally, I was a forester and I know much earlier before the menace reached this level. We ad vocated that there should be some reserves for grazing, and until we settle that, I think it will be very difficult for you to eat the meat and yet you don’t want to see the cat tle,” he submitted. The Sun
