HERDSMEN'S MENACE: Community blames Obiano, Police

· Laments influx of men and cattle to their farmlands

· Intruders armed with AK 47 Rifles

 

Members of the Umunze com­munity in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State are blaming the government of Chief Wil­lie Obiano for their present predicament in the hands of rampaging Fulani cattle herdsmen, who they say, have descended on their farms and crops and have laid waste the entire labour of the commu­nity this year.

Speaking to The AU­THORITY, distraught mem­bers of the community la­mented that the community has become helpless before the waves after waves of Fu­lani herdsmen and their cat­tle that have been grazing on their crops for weeks now.

According to them, the last time, two years ago, that they had challenged the herdsmen that were destroying their crops, during which three of the herdsmen’s cows were killed, the state govern­ment and the police had ar­rested members of the com­munity and made them pay compensation to the herds­men.

According to one of the distraught community lead­ers in Umunze, “the commu­nity was forced to pay more than N300,000, and forced to return the bows, arrows and daggers recovered from the herdsmen, in addition to the huge losses we suf­fered through our destroyed crops.” He said that they were seriously warned by the state and the police in Awka never to bother the herdsmen any longer.

Showing our correspond­ent pictures of their devastat­ed farmlands, the communi­ty spokesman said that since that humiliating incident two years ago, the community has become cowed and incapac­itated. This fact, according to him, has given the herdsmen the impetus and boldness to rampage their farms unchal­lenged, to the extent that the community members have been shedding tears over what they claim is an unprec­edented influx of herdsmen and their cattle since the last two weeks.

A teary member of the community reported to our correspondent how herds of cattle had continually de­scended on Obagu farms near Unyo River at Agu Ag­biligba Lomu in Umunze, the headquarters of Orum­ba South LGA, saying that the worst devastation was re­ported since the 4th of this month, when the herdsmen had been reportedly moving their herds from the Unyo-Eziama road indiscriminate­ly into different farmlands in the area that is regarded as one of the food baskets of the state.

“It is obvious that the cow herders are aware that the vil­lagers are feeling intimidated and so the size and the num­ber of the herds keep in­creasing on a daily basis,” our source said, warning that, “if nothing is done by the au­thority to stop the destruc­tion of people’s livelihood, the outcome might be disas­trous”.

According to him, each time some angry youths had wanted to respond, they were reminded of the warn­ing from Awka and reminded that the herdsmen are usual­ly armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

The AUTHORITY was told that the villagers have severally reported the inci­dents to the police authori­ties at Umunze but were told on each occasion that they should try and arrest the culprits who would be com­pelled to pay reparations for the damages to the farms af­ter assessment. The villag­ers wondered how the police expect them to arrest armed intruders, who had been em­boldened by the government.

There are further reports that other nearby commu­nities in three local govern­ment areas of Anambra and Imo States in Igbo heartland have also come under attack from cattle herders and their animals that have descended on their farms with venge­ance, and in a manner which the said communities are claiming is a way to intimi­date them and incite them into violence.

As of yesterday even­ing, the communities were bracing themselves against the type of attack that was wreaked on Agatu in Benue State.

The AUTHORITY had for a whole week been receiv­ing distress calls from differ­ent boundary communities at the three local government areas of Orumba South and Aguata in Anambra and Ide­ato South in Imo State over the alleged menace of cattle herdsmen which they claim had assumed a new dimen­sion this year.

Yesterday, as The AU­THORITY learnt, members of the Umunze community kept vigil throughout Mon­day night as news filtered into the town that a trailer-load of people suspected to be Fulani were ferried into the town and deposited at the outskirts of the town, at the lonely stretch of farmland at their border with Umuchu in Aguata Lo­cal Government Area.

The community was said to have marshalled all their vigilante and active males in the community for a dusk-to-dawn watch to forestall any type of surprise attack by the suspected Fulani herdsmen.

In the same way, accord­ing to reports reaching us, when the alarm was sounded, Umuchu youths had already put themselves on a stage of readiness to confront any in­vaders. A resident of the com­munity told our correspond­ent by phone that, “Umuchu and Umunze youths this morning (Tuesday) went and combed the Ikpa Ibughubu forest, but we did not make any discovery of anything strange, even though we re­main on very high alert”.

He, however, said that they had received intelligence on the presence of hundreds of Fulanis who are said to be camped at Ikpa Ocha, an ex­pansive farmland in Aro-Ndi­zuogu in Ideato South LGA, and at the border with the small community of Ihite in Orumba South LGA in An­ambra State.

Attempts by The AU­THORITY to reach the state government failed as phone calls to the Special Adviser on Media to the Governor, Mr. James Eze, were not picked.

The state government has consistently scored itself high on the strategies it has adopt­ed to curb the menace of the herdsmen. One of the strat­egies included aerial surveil­lance by helicopters of rural communities in the state.