Citizens, including activists, have fingered some royal fathers in Delta State and vigilante members for entangling themselves with Fulani herdsmen-kidnappers allegedly because of lust and greed, calling on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to bring them to order.
The residents who voluntarily engaged in measures to stop kidnapping in their communities in the past few months, said their findings showed that some Fulani herdsmen gave money and cow gifts to some traditional rulers to stay in the forests belonging to their communities. The monarchs kept the plot to themselves.
However, NDV learned that the governor, who had taken bold measures to checkmate criminals in the state, is mapping out a holistic strategy to tackle kidnapping.
The state House of Assembly held a public hearing last week to rejig the Delta State Community Security Corps Agency law to bolster community policing and validate the provision of working tools, welfare packages, and other statutory requirements for the agency.
A rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu, however, said that the Security Corps Bill has been politicized, with elected House of Assembly members, elected local government chairmen, and community leaders authorised to nominate individuals for screening to become members of the Security Corps (Vigilante).
“If we permit them to nominate, they may exploit this authority for their selfish interests in the future. Regrettably, the bill has already been politicized.
“We like the bill, we want it passed and signed by the governor, but we do not want politicians to nominate the people who will guard our communities. Tomorrow, they will use them for their selfish interest. Let us not politicize security in our state,” he said.
Despite the discontent over their escapades, the suspected money-making kidnappers continued their operations, abducting a man in Ibusa community in Oshimili North Local Government Area, and two other victims in Iselle-Uku community and Abavo community, Ika South Local Government Area, last weekend.
A source told NDV: “Sometimes, the traditional rulers divulge the arrangement with Fulani herdsmen to only loyal community leaders who would not question their actions and trusted/appointed vigilante leaders that coordinate with the Fulani herdsmen in the forest.
“We also discovered that over time, the criminally-minded herdsmen, armed with AK-47 rifles, would infiltrate the genuine herdsmen in the forests where they had built camps and use them as cover to abduct indigenes, travellers, and other inhabitants for ransom.
Even worse, some alleged vigilantes and money-hungry community youths collaborate with kidnappers as informants to kidnap their people and receive their portion of the ransom.
The Fulani herdsmen are not the only ones involved; some of our people collaborate with them, and our traditional leaders, who granted them land to live in the bush, are also contributing to the kidnapping by their actions.
To prevent surrendering the Delta Community Security Corps Agency to vigilante members and corrupt traditional rulers, the state government and the House of Assembly should exercise caution when considering their proposals to amend the legislation.
“The Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies should conduct a thorough screening process, and the government must be aware of the traditional rulers’ character before allowing them to recommend anyone or participate in the agency,” the source continued.
“Some Fulani herdsmen admitted that they provided cash and cows to the monarchs,” an activist told NDV. According to one: “If you see a Fulani stay there for three to five months without leaving; they have given the traditional ruler money.” They do not wish to depart because of this.
“We give money to your traditional leaders, but some villagers may not be aware of this, which is why they bother us. They accuse us of going about in a bush that is not ours. Look, ask your traditional rulers; we paid for it.
“Stop claiming that we stay in your bush without paying; that is incorrect. We are paying, I assure you.
“Part of the reason the accomplice-monarchs are involved is that, besides the money they collect, they ask the herdsmen to help them shepherd the cows they used to bribe them, and if the herdsmen are chased away from the community forest, they will lose the cows.
“Recently, the Edo State governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, suspended some monarchs in the state because of their involvement in kidnapping; our governor, Elder Sheriff Oborevwori, should do the same to send a message to the traditional rulers,” he added.
A villager, Modest Ejiejemba, said: “We already know that the government had set up a joint security team to comb bushes and destroy the illegal hideouts and camps of the terrorists lurking in our bushes under the guise of herdsmen, which is a good development, but no action has started yet in Aniocha North and Aniocha South local government areas, where the pact was signed.”
Because of their dishonest motives, the governor of Delta State ought to prevent the traditional rulers and community leaders from giving Fulani herdsmen access to land in our forests. And if they don’t band together and stop this act, the people will rebel against our traditional rulers.
“The mockery goes on because the state government has not punished any monarch since this revelation about traditional rulers plotting with Fulani herdsmen,” Ndubuisi Uwaje, a villager, told NDV.
NDV established that the question of some traditional rulers collecting money and cow gifts from Fulani herdsmen to allow access into their communities’ forests is not in doubt.
A former Commissioner of Police, Delta State, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, revealed in an interview five years ago that some royal fathers in the state were collecting money from Fulani herdsmen and giving them sanctuaries to build camps.
His words: “One of the traditional rulers at one time was so perplexed and ran to his counterpart concerning how he gave Fulanis sanctuaries with reckless abandon. Are they giving the land for free? We are aware they are collecting money from these Fulani herdsmen, and people are not looking at all these things.
“Let me be blunt to tell you that as we are serious about this issue, some persons are sabotaging our efforts, so the question is, who are the people giving the Fulani herdsmen sanctuaries to establish camps? People have to look at all these.
“Recently, we executed Operation Flush Out Kidnappers from Ibusa community to Okpanam community. We were amazed at what we saw in all these bushes around and behind the Asaba Airport.”
A top traditional ruler in the state, Pere S.P. Luke, Kalanama VII, disclosed in an interview years ago that the Commissioner of Police in the state told them at a security meeting: “From their preliminary findings, they (police) discovered that most of the traditional rulers in Delta North, where the crisis is alarming, gave out land under dispute to herdsmen. Sometimes they are sold completely or given to them in exchange for something.
“He also told us that the vigilante groups set up by various committees to check the menace of kidnapping and herdsmen clashes with host communities have been successfully infiltrated by the herdsmen.
“The vigilante groups are members of the communities, but the Police commissioner said, as things are today, they have been infiltrated by Fulani herdsmen and are the ones giving out information to the herdsmen who terrorize these areas.
“The criminal elements among the herdsmen are those said to be involved in criminal activities. Since the indigenes of the communities connive with herdsmen, it is easy for the herders to carry out successful operations in the troubled communities.
“These were the observations of the Police commissioner, who called for concerted efforts by traditional rulers to rejig the security apparatus of the various communities.
Since the herdsmen have infiltrated the vigilante groups, it is necessary to examine them to distinguish between the good and the bad.
He stated that doing so would, for the most part, resolve the issue. He went further to say that most of the kidnappings in Delta North were made possible by some criminal natives who connive with Fulani herdsmen. They pass information to the herdsmen.”
One of the monarchs mentioned in the land deal with Fulani herdsmen denied the allegation when NDV contacted him.
He clarified that he had been falsely accused, saying: “I never gave them (herdsmen) land. If someone claims that I have given land to herdsmen in my community, let them provide evidence.
He said there were criminal elements in the community working together with dangerous herdsmen who also wanted to topple the community’s elders.
The monarch claimed that some police officers were conspiring with them and that they had given them land parcels.
“I met the Commissioner of Police (not the current commissioner) a few weeks ago, and I let him know that the Police have not been helpful to us; some of them are criminals, and they give them land,” he said. Let’s examine their personal bank accounts and ask them to explain how they acquired their incredible wealth and the modern structures acquired.
“It is impossible to separate the events and sentiment prevalent in Delta State and Nigeria from my community.”
Not all community heads in the state succumbed to the enticements from the Fulani herders; some held their heads high.
Traditional head of Egbo-Kokori community in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, 95-year-old Pa Uhurhemue Erhiahwe is one of them.
He narrated to NDV how Fulani herdsmen approached him with money and cow gifts in January and his reaction.
“The Fulani people came here with their cows; they are daily destroying our crops and source of livelihood. I am a farmer, and I survive from the crops we plant. They are destroying our crops daily. They rape women in the bush and chase people with weapons; it became too much for us, and we decided that they should leave our farmlands.
“As the community leader, they approached me to bribe me with cows and N10 million, but I refused and told them that this is our home; I cannot, because of greed, destroy it. I said that even if I am given a billion naira, I won’t accept it because where you are staying is where you must repair.
“After I refused, they tried to use force, and we insisted they must leave. After they left, they returned yet again. We went to the police in Isiokolo community because we thought it was time to involve them, and they wrote an undertaking to leave in April of last year.
“However, they came to the Ughelli Police Area Command last week and petitioned us about the disappearance of their cows. They want to get back, they are lying, but it won’t work. They accused the Isiokolo police of supporting us because of the undertaking they signed there. However, we told the truth, and the police knew it.” – Vanguard.
