THE people of Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State have appealed to the state and federal governments intensify more efforts in beefing up security in their community because they are a border town with Kogi State where the armed Fulani herdsmen had attacked them last year.
A Community leader in Nimbo, Mazi Ozoemene, who made the position of his people known at a one-day town hall meeting held in Enugu by National Initiative for Sustainable Peace-building Architect (NISPA), action in Nigeria, sponsored by European Union, CEDERO-ECOWAS and Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment (LITE), appealed to the Federal Government to set up security posts to protect them from unwarranted attacks.
Ozoemene also lamented that they are in a precarious situation because even the vigilante known as Neighbourhood Watch that suppose to ensure peace in the communities have now swelled the ranks of criminals by kidnapping and killing people.
He pointed out that they had been living in peace with the herdsmen in the past until they started operating with AK 47 guns.
Another participant at the Town Hall meeting who represented the Fulani herdsmen known as Myetti Allah, pointed out that most of the havoc caused in the Enugu communities are not caused by the Fulanis, but Igbomen that disguise as herdsmen, stressing that some of them have been arrested and were discovered to be Igbomen in disguise.
Another participants representing the herdsmen, Abubakar Isah said that he was happy that the meeting was held for issues to be clarified. He noted that the Fulanis are not violent, but a certain violent northerners known as the Bororos, who even they the Fulanis dread.
“If you arrest any of them, they will mobilise and attack you. They work at both day and night, sometimes by shifts,” Isah laments.
Isah also lamented that some Igbo youth are not helping matters as they steal and kill their cows at times, saying that he has lived in Igboland for over 30 years.
The Secretary to the Security and Peace Committee set by Enugu State government to ensure peaceful coexistence with the communities and the herdsmen, Emma Mbamalu, said that government was doing everything possible to ensure that peace reined in the state.
Mbamalu also said that what was paramount was to enlighten the people, pointing out that the Peace Committee is composed of representatives from the Army, Civil Defence, CAN, civil society organisations among others.