Residents of Oke Ako in the Ajoni Local Council Development Area of Ekiti State are currently angry and worried over activities of herders which have made their community insecure.
Some of the residents said fear of continued attacks and harassment on their farms by the herders had affected their livelihood because they could no longer go to their farms.
The development they said caused hunger, starvation and economic misery.
Two weeks ago, women in the community, where the major occupation is farming, protested against the development. They were led by the Iyaloja, Chief Emily Osanipin and the Iyalode, Chief Ebe Adekunle.
The women held leaves and chanted songs to air their rejection of the nonstop stay of herders in the community and Ekamefa; comprising Oke Ako and five neighbouring agrarian towns.
Our correspondent who witnessed the protest observed that they collectively chorused, “We don’t want Fulani in Oke Ako. Government should take Fulani herdsmen out of here.’’
While the immediate cause of the protest was the arrival of fresh herders numbering over 60 in three lorries into the town at about 3am that day, the remote cause was the daily anguish residents suffered at the hands of herders who occupied forests in the community.
The new arrivals who came with families, foodstuff and other utensils, were said to have claimed they were in touch with some natives who asked them to settle in the forest at Oke Ako, adding that their cows were on the way to the place.
However, the protesting women also vented their anger on two natives of their community suspected to have, for selfish reasons, compromised and related with the herders to bring in others when the people of Oke Ako wanted the herders to leave their town.
The youth leader, Oke Ako Community, Samuel Babatunde, who said the community was tired of herders’ activities, said the women’s protest was to pass a message to the government and relevant agencies and send a strong warning to collaborators with the herders.
Babatunde said, “The leaves are a taboo. It is a message that anyone working against the wishes and interest of the community is doing something abominable and that such person or person will live with the repercussion.’’
The youth leader, who shed light on the issue, said, “We told them we don’t want them. There is no way herders and farmers can be friends. We are farmers and their cattle graze on our produce. It is totally unacceptable.
He stated, “Already, they have destroyed our farm produce. We no longer go to our farms because of the herders’ destructive activities. They have negatively changed the fortune of Oke Ako, Irele and Ipao which used to produce food in large quantities to feed local government and beyond with yam, maize and cassava. We are now food-starved communities as the herders feed their cows our crops.’’
The youth leader said that water in the dams constructed in the community to serve the ranching established during the Western Region days attracted the herders to the area.
He said, “They have to leave our land so that we can have peace and our people can return to their farms.’’
He expressed surprise that a new set of people he described as ‘unwanted guests’ arrived at a time they were making efforts to ensure the exit of the ones currently living in the area.
He said, “At around 3am, we discovered that some trucks drove into the community. We were curious over the strange movement. We found out that they were loaded with herdsmen. We knew it was dangerous. Immediately, youths and women swung into action.
“We cannot forget that on May 20, 2016, herders invaded our community and killed one Lekan Arosoyin. They also killed Olomi Arosoyin. One Seeke Ajayi was injured. They injured many people. It took God’s grace and experts at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital to extract bullets that lodged in the ears of Dayo Abejide.
“Also in 2017, they invaded Ipao, they killed one Olayemi Sunday. And in August last year, one Sogo Dada, working in his farm at Ipao, was attacked with a gun. His leg is now amputated following shots to his leg. We don’t want these to continue. They are threats to us here. We do not want them.’’
A community leader, Mrs Grace Olofin, who affirmed the people’s rejection of both the newly arrived and old herders in the forests, said, “We don’t want herders to stay here. We don’t want them on our land because of the threat they pose to security. When they settle down, they perpetrate kidnappings and raping.
“Already those already in the town have been destroying our people’s farms in the name of cow grazing. For instance, this is the season for harvesting cashew, but our people, particularly the women, cannot get to the farms. All our yam seedlings have been harvested or destroyed by the herders,” she said.
In her comment, the Regent of Oke Ako, Princess Tinuade Ogunbiyi, said that the herders had been causing havoc to the farmers’ crops and people in the area.
She noted that over 60 new herders arrived in Oke Ako at night in three lorries recently.
Ogunbiyi, who lamented that herders occupied 70 per cent of the community’s farmland and grazing cattle there, said, “They deprive our people of the opportunity to farm there. They destroy the crops of our people in addition to becoming threats to the security of lives. Our people can no longer go to their farms.
The regent said, “The result is that we no longer have food. The prices of foodstuffs have soared. Again, people leave Oke Ako in droves because of insecurity. We are helpless. The Fulani men are armed with guns and machetes, so, our people have to avoid them and leave the farms for them.
“We call on the state government, security agencies including Amotekun to rescue us. They are aware of our situation. They should rescue us. There is the need for a standby joint security task force comprising police, army, Amotekun and hunters in the area. I think that will help.’’
Also, a community leader and spokesperson for the Ekamefa communities comprising Oke Ako, Ijowa, Irele, Ipao, Itapaji and Iyemero, Abayomi Oluwafemi, who corroborated the regent’s claim, said, “We call on the government to come to our rescue.
“Let there be security for lives and property. We live in fear so that they don’t come in the night to massacre our people as witnessed in other parts. Government should help us with security day and night. Our people can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed.’’
Oluwafemi, who also said the herdsmen destroyed farms with cows and had become threats to the people, stated, “The herders who arrived in Oke Ako farms recently came in a large number with their families. But we don’t want them.
“We want them to leave the area so that our people can return to farms, work to sustain themselves and lead meaningful lives. We don’t want them in our town because they demonstrate, through their activities, that they are enemies to the progress of the communities they inhabit.
“They destroy our people’s farm produce and lead our people to the path of poverty, hunger and starvation. They also harm our people when they meet them on the farms,” he said.
Shedding light on the new herders who were said to have entered the area, the Olukotun of Irele Ekiti, a neighbouring community to Oke Ako, Chief Oladele Abiona, said that the herders’ movement was discovered by hunters at Oke Ako, who in turn informed their counterparts in Irele, Ijowa and Ipao.
Olukotun said that the hunters on seeing the three lorries which brought in the herders comprising men, women and children to Oke Ako, mobilised and ordered them to the palace of the Onirele of Irele.
He said, “From all indications, they came to settle in the forests. They said their cows were on the way. The Fulani leader told me that one of the herders was the middleman between them and one Oke Ako man who gave them a piece of land.
“Our people called Amotekun operatives who responded. Soldiers and police also came. The Onirele told them that he did not want strangers around there because whatever affects Oke Ako affects Irele. It is the same expansive forest that links other communities in the area.
“And with our nasty experiences at the hands of the herders, we cannot allow them to stay. Last year, I planted 4,000 stands of yam, but I don’t think I harvested up to 2000 as herders fed their cows with my yams. This year, an Ebira man close to my farm planted 2,500 yam seedlings, but harvested less than 700. He was in tears last Thursday while harvesting and has since moved to another location.
“They attack us as well. There was a time when the Ebira working on my farm parked my motorcycle on the road, the Fulani got there and set the bike ablaze. There was also a day when a Fulani man ordered me to remove my motorcycle from the road because their cows were to pass, I had no option but to obey to avoid being attacked because they were armed.
“On many occasions, they would send our women out of their farms. They once inflicted machete cuts on my father. It took God’s grace and prayers for him to survive the attack. They went away with my father’s dane gun and cutlass. We dare not challenge them. If we do, they will attack us. Our area has a large expanse of forest linking many areas and even in the border area with other states, but when the herders come to our area, it is to our loss.
“We have made several reports to the army, police and Amotekun. People are leaving our area as farming no longer pays due to the herders’ destructive activities. What we want is that they should leave the area. There is no way they would not misbehave, so the government should let them leave the axis.
“For now, we have no peace. Every time we hear rumours of a planned attack, so we don’t sleep in peace. We didn’t kill them or their cattle. The thing is that they destroy our crops. We are farmers; their cows eat up our crops. They are hurting our economy and impoverishing us. What we want is for the government to let them move out of here,” the Olukotun said.
Also speaking, the Olu Aofin of Ijowa Ekiti; another neighbouring community, Chief Gbenga Adebayo, said that the herders should leave the community.
He added, “We cannot put fire under our roofs and go to sleep. We did not sell or rent out land to anybody. We are not ready at Ijowa Ekiti to accommodate any herder. We don’t want them on our land. We are farmers and they destroy our farms. We hardly eat now. We can no longer cultivate yam, cassava, maize and other things. So, what are we going to eat? We don’t want trouble. They should leave our land so that we can return to our farms. We want to be able to eat.’’
Adebayo recalled that police relocated their posts around Irele, Ipao and Oke Ayedun when herders clashed with Tiv farmers whose farms were destroyed by cattle and a policeman was killed.
He said, “Since then, no police presence around here again. The nearest police formation is at Ikole Ekiti.’’
Reacting to the issue, the state Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Toyin Ibrahim, said the farmers at times exaggerated the incidents to draw public sympathy, adding that the state Seriki Fulani, Alhaji Abashe Adamu, was working round-the-clock to ensure peace between herdsmen and farmers.
Ibrahim said, “Not all the herders, especially the itinerant herders, are considerate. These issues arise during the dry season. It is those that migrate in search of water that cause problems. They migrate to that area from other states in search of water.
“We get reports of the farmers and locals killing the herders’ cows as well, but our interest is to ensure peaceful coexistence. We, under the leadership of the Seriki Fulani, are planning to go to that axis to intervene and find a solution. We got reports, and it is on our agenda to be at the Oke Ako, Irele and Ipao axis next week.’’
Saying the communities had role to play in ensuring lasting solution, Ibrahim added, “The host communities know the resident herders, so, whenever they see strange herdsmen, they should draw the attention of those already there who are supposed to be watchdogs for necessary interrogations and checks to ensure they don’t constitute threats to lives and property.’’
Reacting to the issue, the state police spokesperson, Sunday Abutu, said the security agency had been making effort to arrest the situation, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo, had directed the nearest police formations close to the area to take charge to ensure protection of the communities.
Abutu also encouraged the communities to make a request to the Police Inspector General through the Commissioner of Police for police outposts, adding “But pending response to their request, they should use the nearest police stations to them.’’
